People can fool us. It is very difficult to discern others' true natures behind all the masks they wear and the games they play. This dilemma is at the core of this psychological thriller, an English remake of Claude Miller's French film, based on the book Brainwash by John Wainwright. Director Stephen Hopkins has set the drama in San Juan, Puerto Rico, during a winter festival.
Henry Hearst (Gene Hackman) is a rich, middle-aged tax attorney with a young and glamorous wife, Chantal (Monica Bellucci). Captain Victor Benezet (Morgan Freeman) asks him if he can stop by the police station just for a few minutes before delivering a speech at a fundraising party for hurricane victims. He wants to clarify some of the details revolving around Hearst's statement of finding the dead body of a 12-year-old girl. After discovering some discrepancies in Hearst's account, Benezet wants to keep grilling him. But his superior forces him to let the attorney fulfill his obligation at the fundraiser.
Benezet's assistant, detective Felix Owens (Thomas Jane), is convinced that Hearst is a rapist and a murderer who preys upon little girls. Later, Benezet uncovers some damning evidence against the suspect that he says was given to him by Chantal. She comes to the station house looking for her husband and is interviewed by the detectives.
Under Suspicion is an intense and gripping drama that makes the most of the high-caliber acting skills of Gene Hackman and Morgan Freeman. Watching this cat-and-mouse game unfold, we feel in our bones what an unsettling experience it must be to have someone expose all of our dark secrets and personal flaws. Equally disconcerting is the challenge of uncovering the truth about a heinous crime when so much hangs in the balance. This riveting long day's journey into night explodes with a surprise ending that only goes to prove that people are often not what they seem to be.