Cubussoli Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Micitype Pretty Good

Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

JohnHowardReid Investigating the brutal murder of a fun-fair fortune teller, a detective encounters five different witnesses' accounts of her character.This ingenious noir thriller provides an opportunity for Jean Kent to give the stand-out performance of her career as the murder victim who is seen though different eyes throughout the narrative. Every critic in the world has pointed out this obvious fact, but very few have zeroed in on Susan Shaw who gives a far more subtle but nonetheless equally telling interpretation of the victim's sister as her part in the drama is also recalled by the various witnesses.Also handing out an astonishingly well-rounded performance is Dirk Bogarde who cleverly overdoes the bogus American accent in order to tip the audience off to his real persona. He fooled me completely.All the actors are well-nigh perfect. The only player I have any problem with is Duncan Macrae in the key role of Superintendent Lodge. To my mind, Macrae lacks the charisma for this important part and I would have much preferred to see Duncan Lamont, a fine actor, who does wonders with his small and inconsequential role as a direction finder at the fun fair.Asquith has handled his players well, although I thought that a little more ingenuity in camera angles would have made the film even more noirishly appealing.

lfisher0264 This film repays several viewings. It's not just Astra who changes according to who's telling her story. People's memories of themselves are also flattering. Astra's sister Katie as remembered by Mrs Finch is a nasal-voiced slut. As remembered by herself she is as gracious as a member of the royal family. When we see her with the police (and this we assume is "reality"), she is much nicer than Mrs Finch's view of her, but more lower-class than her own self- image. In the minds of Mrs Finch and Mr Pollard, Astra is always seen in a shaft of light, her voice is like an angel's - and her dressing gown is clean. Katie has the unkindest view of Astra - seeing her as a round-shouldered slattern with a growing out perm, a filthy dressing gown, someone who sleeps in her makeup and (ripped) stockings. Though it's pretty clear that Astra supplements her fortune telling with prostitution, Katie - who is pleasant enough to have Bob fall in love with her - seems to be exaggerating Astra's vulgarity. But at the very end, when the Inspector tells Pollard "This is what really happened" we see... Astra herself, not seen through the distorting lens of another character. And she is the hunched, harsh-voiced woman in the dirty dressing gown.Apart from the unusual psychological detective story (who killed her? who was she?) this film is great for the background of the little seaside town, the shabby fairground, the little houses unchanged for 50 years.

sol- For the first twenty minutes or so, the film feels like a run-of-the-mill investigation film noir, but then it takes a unique spin, providing five different accounts of the events. It is quite interesting to watch from there on in, even though the male characters are rather thin and flat - the investigators in particular. The conclusion is also a bit disappointing and it is all a bit overly melodramatic at times, but the core of the picture - its middle section - is really quite strong, and that is what causes this film to be much better than the average piece of crime investigation film noir out there.

dbdumonteil At first sight,"woman in question" seems to be a whodunit with a Georges Simenon flavor thrown in.The form seems intriguing,presenting twice some scenes,first from the witnesses' point of view,then from the main characters ' themselves.That's why we have five different portraits of the same woman.She 's so many women that we do not know if she is for example the nice little pet lover who falls for the birdman or the slut whom her sister depicts.Actually the trick is not new at all:see "citizen kane" ,which remains unsurpassed for that matter.And I could mention at least a dozen of movies which follows the same pattern.The crime and the flashbacks recall Marcel Carné's "le jour se lève" (1939).The plot is never really exciting and the final revelation downright disappointing,even if there's a good twist:the scene begins with one of the suspects the culprit and ends up with another one.Although at the top of the credits,Dirk Bogarde is only a supporting actor here.Another disappointment.