Shattered Image

Who is the real Jessie Markham? Is she a rich and vulnerable heiress on a tropical island, who suspects her new husband Brian (William Baldwin) of wanting to murder her? Or is she a stunningly-attractive cold-blooded assassin who preys on men? Both variations would appear to exist only in the dreams of the other Jessie. And neither of them knows which is real and which is a nocturnal hallucination. In the end, both of Jessie’s lives start crossing each others paths. Both women move inevitably towards their final destination: one as the helpless target of a treacherous plot, the other as a beast of prey with a deadly plan. Then it becomes clear who is dreamer and who is dream…Raúl Ruiz’ first American film is a stylish thriller, in which the doppelganger motif is reminiscent of films like Vertigo and La double vie de Véronique. Against the backdrop of elegant apartments, chic restaurants and tropical landscape, Ruiz plays, as he often does, with cinematographic conventions, psychology and a large dose of ‘suspension of disbelief’. The lead is played by Anne Parillaud (e.g. La femme Nikita), the production is in the hands of director/producer Barbet Schroeder, the camera-work is by the Dutchman Robby Müller. ‘A grand film in the great tradition of sophisticated intrigue’ (Kay Armatage, Toronto festival).