Canadian television usually provides good viewing and I had high expectations for this one. It had a storyline and plot that had the potential to be filled with intrigue and suspense. Unfortunately it was disappointing on almost every level-the character development, the script, the development of the storyline and the acting. I would sum it up as being totally unfulfilling and not living up to the premise and expectation that it created
Geneviève Bujold stars as Suzanne St Laurent, a high flying lawyer with a record of success and a relationship with her daughter that has its problems -although thankfully they have the sense not to overdramatize it in the fashion that so many over TV movies do. As a character Suzanne St Laurent is unconvincing, weak, one-dimensional and not very convincing. This may not have been Bujold's fault -her script and character development details do not give her much to go on in portraying her character -but you don't feel anything for her character as she undergoes the ordeal of being held hostage in her own apartment with her daughter facing the prospect of death. And it shouldn't be like that -a good script makes you able to feel sympathy, emotion and sometimes pain for what the character is going through. This movie made me feel extremely cold toward the main heroine. The supporting cast is a mixture -Nancy Beatty gives a good performance even with a weak script and the actresses who portray Rosa the housekeeper and Suzanne's law associate also do well with a weak script-but as performances go this is pretty much it. Several members of the supporting cast looked like they were dying to give a good performance but were constrained by the limitations of a weak script and not enough character development
The movie goes into detail too rapidly and you have difficulty following the storyline from the very beginning. I am all for movies that don't drag on for ages and ages trying to get to the main plot but this one fails to give you much in the way of background or detail that would be helpful to know as the story progresses. The dialogue is weak and predictable and the unfolding of the story fails to develop the suspense and intrigue that should be evident in a movie with this kind of plot. Instead of being gripping and keeping you on the edge of your seat, this movie made me reach for the fast forward button even during its most climatic moments. And the ending was so predictable that it wasn't even worth waiting for
My advice -there are much better movies with the same genre and plot as this one. Yo would be much more well advised renting out something other than this one
