Since it first went into production in 2018, this much-delayed mystery thriller has appeared increasingly doomed. Nicholas Barber looks at the films that are troubled from the start.
Amy Adams’ new mystery thriller, The Woman In The Window, may be adapted from a Gone Girl / The Girl On The Train-type thriller novel, but it’s not always easy to lose yourself in its twisty-turny plot. Partly, that’s because the revelations are so silly that you’re more likely to laugh at them than be engrossed. And partly, it’s because the acting, editing and camerawork are so hectic that it feels as if you’re reading a book in the middle of a rugby scrum. But another factor is that the story on screen is less compelling than the story of what went on behind the scenes. In the three years since the film was announced, it has suffered so many delays, reshoots and scandals that it now has the unfortunate reputation of being a “troubled production”. And, as so many notorious examples have shown, it’s difficult for any film to shake that reputation off.
Rewind to 2018, and The Woman In The Window could hardly have looked more promising. It was based on a New York Times bestselling novel. The screenplay was by Tracy Letts, a Tony- and Pulitzer-winning playwright. The director was Joe Wright, whose previous film, Darkest Hour, had been nominated for best picture at the Oscars. And the cast and crew were stacked with Academy Award nominees and winners. Adams stars as Dr Anna Fox, an unstable, agoraphobic child psychologist who lives alone in a Manhattan brownstone. She is befriended by Jane (Julianne Moore), who has just moved into the house across the street. But, the next night, as Anna is peeking through her window into Jane’s house, she glimpses her new neighbour being stabbed to death. Or does she? Jane’s husband (Gary Oldman) insists that Jane (now played by Jennifer Jason Leigh) is alive and well. Has he persuaded an imposter to impersonate his murdered wife? Or is Anna’s medication making her hallucinate? With a Rear Window-like plot as juicy as that, and a creative team as gifted as that, the phrase “what could possibly go wrong” came to mind.
SOURCE: BBC.COM
