Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on March 2010

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Julianne Moore is one the top actresses working today, so if she chooses to appear in a psycho-thriller, it’s likely to be good and scary. (OK, she did Hannibal, but everyone makes mistakes). This is a scary one. I’m talking Silence of the Lambs scary. She plays a forensic psychiatrist who specializes in disproving the notion of multiple personality disorder, asserting that the ailment is most likely shrink-induced and little more than a staple for sensationalist movies and TV shows. Until she meets a patient initially named Dave. Nearly stealing the movie is Jonathan Rhys Meyers in a virtuoso performance as her latest debunking opportunity, a guy whose several personalities are all murder victims. As she searches for a rational explanation, her belief in science is shaken, as well as her faith in God. You’ll have to find out yourself what’s up with this guy. The edgy filming techniques used by Swedish directors Mans Marlind and Bjorn Stein nicely complement the gradually escalating tension as each new personality emerges, and while the film is thankfully low on the gore scale, it contains some of the most terrifying imagery I’ve seen in any recent movie.