Killing Me Softly film review

certificate_18

KILLING ME SOFTLY

Killing Me Softly is, without doubt, the best comedy of the year.

By the end of 100 unforgettable minutes, I was doubled up with laughter, barely able to breath, with tears streaming down my face. Unfortunately, Chen Kaige's debut English language film is supposed to be a tense erotic thriller. Oh dear, maybe something got lost in translation, between Nikki French's best-selling novel and the big screen.

Alice (Heather Graham) is a London-based I.T. consultant, living in a small apartment with boring yet responsible boyfriend Jake (This Life regular Jason Hughes).

On the way to work one morning, Alice runs into a handsome stranger, and finds herself following him to a nearby bookstore, where she learns he is renowned mountaineer Adam Tallis (Joseph Fiennes).

The pair begin a tempestuous affair, and Alice soon dumps Jake to pursue her raging lust for Adam, by moving into his swanky apartment. Adam, in turn, introduces her to his friends, including fellow mountaineer Klaus (Ulrich Thomsen), and to his curious sister Deborah (Natascha McElhone).

Alice's happiness is threatened when she learns that Adam's previous girlfriend died during an expedition. Possibly at his hands. Suspicion and paranoia gradually drive Alice to the brink of insanity, as she attempts to determine Adam's innocence, or guilt, once and for all.

Killing Me Softly is a spectacular mess. Graham and Fiennes are lifeless, and their kinky sexual couplings are ridiculously overblown (complete with props including ropes and silk scarves).

The murder mystery sub-plot is woefully transparent, founded on one cliche and contrivance after the next: a locked closet full of letters, lurid polaroids, and enough red herrings to happily feed a family of six.

The laughs - all unintentional - come thick and fast. Who knew that the sight of Fiennes running through the streets of London could be elevated to pure farce, by making him wear oversized nylon combat trousers, which rustle every time he moves?

The film is so excruciatingly bad, you may be tempted to see it again...