“Melanie has an identity crisis,” says Blake. “That’s, characteristically, an understatement from an actress with enormous range and commitment” Preston comments. “Rachael allows us to believe that Melanie’s extreme journey is made by an ordinary soul who finds herself in extraordinary circumstances.”

Perfect Strangers is Rachael Blake’s second big-screen credit and her first outside her homeland of Australia. As Melanie, she plays a good-time girl entranced by a handsome stranger’s attentiveness but she undergoes a chilling transformation when she realises he has kidnapped her and she is stranded, with him, on an island.

Blake is well-known in Australia for her leading role in the popular television series Wildside for which she won an Australian Film Institute (AFI) award for Best Actress. Her stunning performance in the psychological thriller Lantana introduced her to international audiences and gained her a 2001 AFI award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Her performance in Perfect Strangers has also been widely praised by the critics.