A few years ago I read a book called “Before I Go to Sleep” by S. J. Watson. I’d treated myself to a Kindle and I got this book really cheap, so it was one of the first I read on my kindle. I loved it so much that I recommended it to everyone, but sadly having it on kindle meant I wasn’t able to lend it to anyone! Anyway over the years my mum has read it and my best friend is currently reading it – my mum loved it but sadly I don’t think Nat has really give it a chance yet (being in the middle of 4 books at a time!).
Anyway, when it was announced that 2014 would see a movie adaptation of this book, I was pretty excited. I’m not a huge Nicole Kidman fan though so when she was cast as the lead, I couldn’t really see it. Needless to say I didn’t manage to get to the cinema to see the movie and actually even when it came out on dvd I was waiting for Nat to watch it with me. However after waiting indefinitely I decided to just watch it tonight – I have it on Amazon Prime and it popped up as a suggestion so I was like “… sure, what the hell!”.
The main actors in the movie are Nicole Kidman as Christine, Colin Firth as “Ben”/Mike and Mark Strong as Dr. Nasch. While I wouldn’t personally have cast any of these people in the roles, they were all fantastic and Colin Firth as a bad guy was especially shocking!
The movie is very true to the book and since I loved the book, I absolutely adored the movie. I’m sure the plot isn’t for everyone but the basic jist is a lady called Christine suffers from a severe form of amnesia, after a horrific incident several years before. Each morning she wakes up believing she is in her 20’s, when actually she is in her 40’s and has forgotten everything that has happened in between. Every morning is a clean slate and she has to start learning about herself all over again, along with her husband Ben and with the help of Dr. Nasch. Bit by bit she manages to remember parts of her past, and while for the most part she still continues to forget it each day, with the help of a video diary (just a regular diary in the book), learning each day becomes a quicker process. The book/movie is definitely a thriller, so expect a dark twist. The whole movie is done quite slow and creepy though so I think if you haven’t read the book you wouldn’t always be entirely sure where it was going.
This book/movie adaptation has now shot in as one of my all time favourites, along with Hunger Games, The Fault in Our Stars and Divergent. I will still continue to recommend the book to everyone and now also the movie too!
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