Don't Look Back (4 Stars)

This is a psychological thriller made in 2009. Jeanne is a happily married woman with two young children. She works as a journalist, and she's written several successful biographies.

Then things start to change. Small things at first. The furniture in her apartment is rearranged. She complains to her husband, but he tells her it's always been that way. She checks old photos, and he's right. Then she can't find the house where she lives, and her husband has to fetch her. She finds herself able to speak fluent Italian, even though she's never learnt the language. Then the big changes come. She no longer recognises her children. Most horrific of all, she's making love to her husband, and when she looks at him he's become a completely different man. She can't bear to be with him, so she goes to her mother's house, but she's changed as well. Jeanne can't even recognise herself in the mirror.

Is Jeanne going mad? It sounds like it. Then she finds a first clue. She sees a photo in her mother's apartment, with herself as a child and two women. Jeanne points at one of the women and says "That's my mother", but her mother says "No, the other woman is me. We were on holiday in Italy when you were eight". 

Jeanne travels to Italy to solve the mystery. Or does the mystery deepen? She meets the woman that she always thought was her mother. The woman's brother looks like her husband. She even meets a girl who looks like her eight-year-old self. But as she walks the streets of Italy she becomes more and more disabled. Scars appear on her body, and her right leg swells to double its previous size.

Does the mystery get solved? Maybe. In the final scenes things are strung together to show what's been happening, but I still didn't get it. I looked for reviews online, but they said the film was unintelligible. Finally I found a detailed explanation on the German Wikipedia page. It looks like the writer's original research, because he doesn't give any sources for what he writes. His explanation is helpful, even though I don't think it's completely correct. The problem is that the film has different people with the same names, and it has the same people with different names. It's not always apparent who is who.

I'll probably watch the film again soon. I need to work it over in my mind.

Success Rate:  - 5.3

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