THE STRANGER

Argentina/US, 1987, 93 minutes, Colour.
Bonnie Bedelia, Peter Reigert, Barry Primus, Cecilia Roth.
Directed by Adolfo Aristarain.

Strangers is an effective small mystery movie. It is about amnesia and is a 'whydunnit' rather than a 'whodunnit.' Bonnie Bedelia is the young woman who witnesses murders, suffers amnesia, is gradually helped by a sympathetic psychiatrist, Peter Riegert, and realises what has truly happened. The film is intriguing with its atmosphere of mystery about the woman herself, her relationship with the doctor, the pursuit of the criminals and trying to discover what actually happened. There is some irony insofar as the heroine loses her memory while watching a film and the film becomes part of her memory. There is a good supporting cast including Barry Primus as a detective and David Spielberg as the cold-blooded killer who impersonates a psychiatrist. Effective of its kind.

1. Enjoyable and interesting murder mystery? Whydunnit? Psychology? Regaining of memory? Violence, the drug world?

2. The techniques for violence, for the memories of the heroine, for her reliving her memories and regaining them? Colour and black and white? Editing and pace? Musical score?

3. The title, the focus on the heroine, the mystery of her experience?

4. The woman and the initial murders, cold-blooded, her watching, her escape, in the town and the car, the crash, her going to hospital? The treatment in the hospital? The brutality of the detective and putting her photo in the paper? The pursuit of the criminals and her almost being killed by the black killer? The killer disguised as the psychiatrist? Her relationship with the psychiatrist, falling in love with him, transference? His helping her to regain her memory? The building up of the memories, her job, her relationship with the drug agent, his death, the passing of the microfilm, the identities of the killers? The irony of the microfilm being passed in the theatre during the murders and their becoming part of her memory? Her regaining of her memory? The confrontation with the killer? The happy ending?

5. The doctor, his gambling habit, his debts - and their being used by the killers? His friendship with Anita? With the woman, the sessions helping her with her memory, with the police? The bond between the two? Getting Anita to look after her? The build-up to the climax with the physical dangers? His being used by the killers? His winning over them?

6. The killers in the memory, identified with the killers on the screen? Their boss and his drug empire, his commands? The black killer and his death? The pretence of the doctor, insinuating himself into the woman's life, therapy? The final confrontation and the truth, the violent struggle? The irony of the policeman being corrupt and on his side?

7. The detective and his brutality, doubting the woman's word, giving her name to the public, etc? The irony of his being deceived by his assistant? The assistant in the pay of the criminals?

8. The drug world, the agent, his death? The woman and her helping with the expose?

9. The popularity of amnesia stories? Audiences identifying with the victims?