The Intruder

Rating:
Summary: A REAL QUANTUM LEAP
Review: THE INTRUDER opens with a young woman being questioned in the death of another woman. The police says she killed her two years ago; the lady says she just killed her. Fade to a saxophone player out on the streets of some undisclosed city where the accused lady is visiting an art gallery. As she leaves, she is accosted by a mugger who takes her purse and in the process knocks her down, causing her to sprain her ankle. To her rescue comes a fellow she bumped into in the gallery who takes her to his loft apartment, nurses her to health and next thing we know, they're married. They live in same loft with other tenants who are all a sort of "family" who know each other and their secrets intimately. We discover that new hubby has been married before and that his wife was murdered by an apparent break-in, but the murderer was never caught. New wife thinks old wife is really alive and stalking her; friend of hubby says that he is investigating a'la' Philadelphia Experiment, the theory of a quantum leap, or time warp, or parallel time, whatever you choose to call it. Thus the screenplay by Jamie Brown based on a novel by Brooke Leimas unfolds. At times incoherent and muddled, its resolution stretches credibility and the ending is somewhat disappointing. THE INTRUDER has some atmospheric moments but doesn't quite achieve a level of comprehension that I would have found more satisfying. Charlotte Gainsbourg (21 Grams) stars as Catherine, and her performance becomes more grating as the movie goes on; the ever lovely Natassa Kinski plays Nick's lover and patron, but has little spirit in her performance; Molly Parker fares a little better as Catherine's friend Daisy who finds unrequited love; Charles Powell is irritating in his role as Nick, and he never takes his character to the full realm of potential; John Hannah as the quantum leap theorist is sufficiently esoteric but not fully realized in depth. Perhaps a more talented visionary director such as Brian DePalma or Jonathan Demme could have found more to do with this film; as it is, it merely manages to be interesting enough to hold one's interest.