Life spirals for FBI agent Julia Roberts when her daughter is murdered.

The original Argentinian film The Secret In Their Eyes (El Secreto De Sus Ojos) by the director Juan José Campanella won the 2010 Oscar for Best Foreign Film and was based on a book by Eduardo Sacheri titled The Question In Their Eyes. This latest version, directed by Billy Ray (co-writer, The Hunger Games), has a stellar cast but somehow lacks the tension exhibited in the first film.

A couple of FBI agents, part of a team investigating terrorism post-9/11, are thrown into a state of confusion, both professionally and emotionally, when they are called out to attend a murder scene in a building adjacent to a mosque they have under surveillance. When the body turns out to be the daughter of one of them, Ray (Chiwetel Ejiofor - 12 Years A Slave) is given the task of revealing the dreadful news to his colleague, Jess (Julia Roberts - Eat Pray Love / August: Osage County). No spoiler alert needed here because it is the pivotal scene in the trailer!

The story then jumps ahead 13 years when Ray returns to Los Angeles with the news that he has tracked down the killer, who has changed his appearance, and is determined to bring him to justice. They had caught the perpetrator once before but the courts had released him. Frustrated, Ray had left the force and moved east. Now he’s frustrated again by Jess’s apparent lack of enthusiasm for his news. Complicating things further is the fact that his obsession with one of the old team, Claire (Nicole Kidman - Strangerland), hasn’t dimmed and Claire, now District Attorney and married, makes it evident that she too has a passion for Ray that has not diminished over the years.

The plot is quite complex and keeps you guessing until the end but, like many remakes, the film doesn’t really match up to its original. Kidman gives one of her better performances, reprising the cool, chilly persona that is almost her hallmark, and Ejiofor is as solid as usual - he is one of the best male actors on screen at present. Unfortunately Roberts comes across as the weak link. Her performance is too mannered as, after the death of her daughter, her character lapses into a dour state which makes you think she would’ve been better off taking permanent sick leave! The Make-up Department has gone to a lot of trouble to make Roberts looks as plain as day, too. It’s a far cry from Pretty Woman.

Secret In Their Eyes features handsome production values, with Production Design by Nelson Coates (Flight) and Cinematography by Mr. Julia Roberts, Daniel Moder (Mr. & Mrs. Smith). The tension is aided by Emilio Kauderer’s score. No surprises there, given that Kauderer also worked on the original film. This is not Oscar material but it does successfully portray the complexity of grief and poses the questions, “How does one cope with tragedy and is there a point when it is legitimate to seek revenge?” We can only hope that we never find ourselves in a situation that requires us to seek the answer.

// SALT

Previewed at the Roadshow Theatre, Sydney on 9 November 2015