Before I Go to Sleep

If you can’t remember for yourself, you have to rely on others, and that’s the problem for Christine (Nicole Kidman), who wakes each day remembering nothing of her past due to trauma from an assault. Somehow she must sift truth from lies to regain her life and identity.

Her mainstay is partner Ben (Colin Firth) who seems a sympathetic figure – but is he? Neuropsychologist Dr Nash (Mark Strong) suggests she keep a video diary and it begins to jog her memory.

This is a unique style of thriller that keeps viewers on edge from the opening scene, with tension in the smallest of events.

Kidman and Firth team well in material that offers more scope than their first duo on The Railway Man.

The performance Kidman puts in rivals her work in The Hours, which gained her an Academy Award for Best Actress – so watch this space. (MMu)

***½ /5

BY MICHAEL MUIR