Faithfully Yours

There are a lot of good and compelling elements in this Dutch thriller. Two woman go away on a romantic weekend with their lovers, instead of their husbands and one is murdered. It is low budget, but it is engaging and interesting to watch how their romantic deception unravels their families' lives in the midst of the murder. I did have an issue with the main character's reaction to her friends murder, although otherwise I found the acting to be good. I am not sure if a murder investigation is treated as casually outside of the United States as it appears to be here, but that issue unnerved me, a little, when watching. It has twists, which keep it interesting. But, not necessarily, more believable. I do think it is good filmmaking-the cinematography and the Direction are smart. It does keep you guessing, but in the end is messier than it needs to be.

And I don't mean just the two of the main characters, but literally everyone - from all of the characters to writers and director.

No one acts in their best interest, and it can't even be explained away as panic, as everyone is calm, just irrational.

For instance, a character lies to the police about something that the police wouldn't really care about, but - for NO reason whatsoever - makes sure to tell the truth to another character who would be upset about it.

Another character pulls an extremely risky and unnecessary stunt in a situation that could have been handled in thousand different ways and each one of them would've made more sense.

Oh, and when it comes to police, nothing about their investigation makes any sense. It feels like the writers asked a six-year-old what they imagine a police investigation looks like, and they actually put it that way in a script.

However, my "favorite" parts were two lame red herrings; one of which is explained away in a pretty silly manner and another one is forgotten as soon as it happens. Can't say much without spoiling it but IF (for whatever reason) you decide to watch it, it will leave you wondering: "What the hell was the meaning of that peculiar detail if it's never going to be mentioned again?"

I feel like I could go on and on about it, and still wouldn't be able to cover all the messy parts of the plot. Pacing which is extremely off and wooden acting do not help. Just avoid it.

This had a lot of plot elements; each of which could have been more fully explored to make a great film, but all were used at once so the plot was jumbled and not believable. For example the idea of the women deceiving their husbands and then one of them suspected of murder but not able to prove her innocence because of the previously fabricated events would be a good film. As would one of the husbands secretly monitoring his wife's every move to create the perfect murder. Unfortunately the film did not exploit any of these ideas in depth, but glossed over them in order to introduce more, unnecessary twists. Unfortunately the casual approach to the investigation by the police and the idea that Bodil Backer was supposed to be a judge were almost laughable.

Don't be dazzeled by the third review, the first review was pretty accurate.

Terrible, amateurish acting. , one of the leads, acts like a 16 year old instead of a grown adult. Her facial expressions are so over dramatic, I feel like I'm watching an episode of Saved by the Bell murder mystery.

Walks past an old man with blood all over himself and doesn't think to ask if he's OK. WTF? One of many scenes that make no sense to sensible people.

The Police ask Bo to contact Isabel's family. Yeah, that's not gonna happen, especially when she could be a suspect.

Later Police show everyone the murder scene picture. How stupid and unprofessional, is the writer on drugs?

The storyline writing is so poor and rushed, plus the dialog between characters is wooden and lacking in any type of emotion you'd associate with people who are supposed to be friends.

They talk to each other more like work colleagues that only talk at work and can't be bothered with one another otherwise.

I'm guessing the writer doesn't have a lot of friends or is socially inept. So many things that don't make sense, make the story disjointed and frankly, barely watchable.

I slugged through it and honestly I don't know why. It clearly wasn't worth it.

Best friends Bodil and Isabel tell their husbands that they are going away for a short holiday together but in fact they are each providing the other with an alibi so they can have an assignation with somebody else. When Bodil returns to the house they are staying at there is no sign of Isabel. She informs the police she doesn't exactly tell them the truth about what has been happening. When evidence emerges suggesting Isabel has been murdered Bodil will have a hard time being believed as she starts telling the truth. When their husbands arrive on the scene tensions rise and secrets are revealed.

This Dutch film may follow the formula for the genre, plenty of twists and turns and just about everybody being a suspect at some point, but that doesn't mean it isn't fun and the finale is far from obvious. Many reviewers aren't keen on the acting but I thought it was pretty good; especially from Bracha van Doesburgh who plays Bodil. The location, an isolated house near the sea in Belgium adds to the atmosphere nicely. Overall I wouldn't say this was a must see but it passed ninety odd minutes well enough; worth a watch if you enjoy the genre.

These comments are based on watching the film in Dutch with English subtitles.