Hi everyone, sorry for the long wait. I could not write for a while due to the stress caused by the COVID 19 virus and countless deadlines. The film of this week is Dead Calm. It is an Australian suspense thriller directed by Phillip Noyce starring 21 year old Nicole Kidman as Rae Ingram, Billy Zane as Hughie and Sam Neill as John Ingram. The film starts with a car crash which involves Rae and her son and results in the death of their son. John, (Rae’s husband who is clearly older) suggests that it might be a good idea to take a holiday with his wife at their yacht to recover from the incident.

The key image of the film is the empty ocean with two ships in the middle of infinity. Even from the beginning it is foreshadowed that help will not come from anywhere else. A young man named Hughie leaves his ship, jumps on a boat and rows to the Ingram’s yacht. This is when things start to get weird. He asks for help claiming all of his friends who were on board died from food poisoning and his ship is sinking. They hesitantly accept and welcome him without knowing what the future holds for them. John feels suspicious about Hughie and rows over to his ship to see what is going on there. He finds several corpses and a footage which shows how Hughie violently murdered those people. As soon as he sees the footage he rushes over to his yacht to inform Rae and kick Hughie out but it is too late. Hughie realises everything and sails the yacht away without John.

Rae is left with a sociopathic killer. From now on, the film splits into two. John on the sinking ship fighting for his life and Rae with the murderer Hughie. This is where Rae continuously attempts to convince Hughie to return for her husband. She fails all the time. She uses every trick she can think of to stop him. She even uses her sexuality to manipulate him. Nicole Kidman is known as a highly sexualised actress perhaps this is where it all started. It is not easy to defeat Hughie. He is unstable, wild-eyed, aggressive and strong. However Rae’s smartness should not be underestimated. She bravely fights for her own and her husband’s life.

In the film, it is apparent that Rae is not a stereotypical female character. She does not act like a helpless victim even though she is captured and is in danger. She does not rely on a man to come and save her. This time the husband is the damsel in distress and and the wife is the heroine. By the end of the film, Rae manages to kill the madman and find her husband. Everything goes back to normal until Hughie shows up again to strangle Rae. Luckily John notices on time and shoots him. Dead Calm is full of suspense and thriller, it might push you to the edge of your seat. Be prepared!

personal rating: 7/10