Sunday

Sunday is a surprising film, part psychological suspense, part wry comedy, about a life of one day. Oliver is staying in a shelter in Queens, with a group of homeless people who have to fend for themselves and each other. On the street he meets Madeleine, a middle-aged actress who mistakes him for the well-known director Matthew. The film's plot emerges from this case of mistaken identity, but the main theme is ambivalent psychological and emotional identity. What does Madeleine believe in, and at what time of day? What does Oliver/Matthew understand of her opinions and desires? What do they know and believe of each other? What do they feel for each other at different times of day?Director Jonathan Nossiter clearly takes pleasure in wrong footing the viewer. Co-scriptwriter James Lasdun has moved foryears in the world of the homeless, so that this hidden world beyond Manhattan is portrayed realistically. The film looks at first sight to be rather loose and makeshift, but grows in intensity as circumstances become more confrontational and heated, and in the end become almost inevitable. In the role of Oliver/Matthew we recognise David Suchet, who plays the well-known Agatha Christie detective Poirot in the TV series.