(Warning: This review and film contain plot points and mention of pregnancy loss.)
It’s easy to dismiss films with January release dates as a lost cause, especially thrillers. But when it comes to Some Other Woman, its winter release date is favourable in terms of the story’s escapist tropical locale and surprisingly well-executed storyline.
Eve Carver (Amanda Crew) lives with her husband Peter (Tom Felton) in the Cayman Islands. Though it looks like they’re living the idyllic island life, Eve longs to return to the mainland to raise a family closer to her own kin. After struggling to conceive, Eve does become pregnant, but her joy is short-lived. Suffering a miscarriage, the resulting emotional and psychological trauma sends her on a downward spiral.
While this seems to set Some Other Woman up as a rote take on the psychological horror that comes with suffering a miscarriage, it plants the seeds for a truly unique flip of the script.
Haunted by this loss, Eve begins having psychotic breaks, convinced she is being stalked by “some other woman” and forgetting key details of her own life. With her husband and friends growing increasingly concerned by her behaviour, Eve’s ultimate mental break comes with the introduction of Renata (Ashley Greene Khoury). Her near doppelgänger, Renata is sexy, fun, and most importantly, seems to enjoy a flirtatious friendship with Peter. This lookalike seems an echo of what Eve once was, and while she descends into darkness, Some Other Woman begins to emerge as a thought-provoking psychological thriller.
To say more of the plot would be a disservice to viewers but watching the film take an unexpected direction invigorates the pace and the plot.
Director Joel David Moore and writers Yuri Baranovsky, Angela Gulner and Josh Long put a unique spin on and add an unforeseen complexity to the themes of loss and identity. When the desire to be a mother is so strong, what happens when that dream is ripped away, leaving a waking nightmare behind? A caring husband and friends aren’t enough to break through Eve’s isolation and loneliness. She describes feeling as though the sum of all of her parts come from “some other woman” as she begins to feel increasingly alien in her own life and body.
The Cayman Islands makes for a great background for Some Other Woman too. The bright, sunny skies and white sand beaches seem to mock Eve’s emotional state at every turn. Setting a thriller in a tropical location is nothing new, but it works well with the themes here, providing a stark contrast to the darkness in Eve’s head. The film feels like the equivalent of a beach read—it’s got some surprises, a few light thrills, and a satisfactory story that won’t challenge audiences too much.
Some Other Woman hinges on the performances of its leads to make the story work. Canadian actress Crew does a lot of the heavy lifting as Eve, dealing ably with a complex range of emotions, while Green Khoury finds equal balance with Renata. Without relying on too many histrionics, both actresses capture their characters’ journeys well and are complemented by Felton’s performance as Peter. He is a husband dealing with a troubled wife, her very personality changing daily. The concern and sadness Felton feels is palpable, making Peter feel like a well-rounded, three-dimensional character instead of a plot point.
If you’re in the mood for a light psychological thriller, Some Other Woman is a satisfactory one. It even has a few tricks up its storytelling sleeves that may catch you off guard.
Some Other Woman lands in theatres on January 12.
