Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain star as neighbours, Celine and Alice, living in a typical American suburban neighbourhood in the early 1960’s. Both are housewives looking after their sons, Max and Theo.
When Max dies in a tragic accident, falling from a balcony whilst Alice is in the garden, their close friendship is strained. Alice feels like Celine is blaming her and is looking for revenge.
Benoît Delhomme’s thriller is a remake of a 2018 French language film called Duelles. I have not seen that, so I do not know how closely this follows the same plot, but I found it to be edge of my seat stuff. I kept changing my mind between Celine being evil and Alice succumbing to old mental health issues.
Hathaway, who after Eileen last year, appears to be specialising in period suspense films, and Chastain both give excellent, at times chilling, performances. Anders Danielsen Lie is great as Alice’s frustrated husband and Anne Nikitin’s score is suitably atmospheric.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10