Andrew L. Urban:

For all our efforts to keep the synopsis vague, you will no doubt pick up more of the plot details elsewhere. Don't. This is an infuriatingly difficult film to review, because to provide a reasoned window to it, a reviewer has to reveal elements that are really best revealed as you watch the film, developing your own micro-responses to each scene, and drawing your own conclusions. I'll do my best to avoid spoilers and start with commending the film's cinematic virtues, from Alun Bollinger's wonderful cinematography to the terrific soundtrack (and Plan 9's great original work), through the production and costume design. The wild South Island settings in New Zealand are a sure fire travel winner too, but note that this was shot in the relatively benign months of the year. Performances are, as expected, outstanding; Sam Neill really nails his character as the 'perfect stranger' - especially in the one short but crucial scene where he has to make us believe he can be irrational, perhaps psychotically injured. Rachael Blake is sensational in a difficult, complex role - she's really the one who's been damaged. The excellent mise en scene and the story's narrow focus on the two central characters combine to give Perfect Strangers extra edge.

Reminiscent at first of themes explored in The Collector (1965), Perfect Strangers changes gears to become a psycho-thriller and then again to a fully fledged, psyched out fantasy. You have to be patient with this film until the very end to unlock its secret. On the way, it upends the romantic notion of being whisked off by the perfect stranger. Until then, I found myself a trifle irritated by a few small things: cinematic simplifications (cutting away to not reveal how it's done) of things like a woman manoeuvring a man's inert body, or the after effects of certain acts of violence. It is only in the final scene that these apparent oversights fall into place as the subtle hints to the filmmaker's subtle intentions.

It'll be hard to market, but it's a sure conversation starter. And one thing is undeniable: it is the work of a genuine filmmaking talent, who has something important to say.