Under Suspicion (2000)

Good...but the end
The movie was actually very promising until the end. Pedophilia was treated almost lightly and there were some unnecessary and very disturbing discussions and details thrown in which really can be very traumatizing to those who have had experience in the area or who have children.

The end was very disappointing and just kind of dropped off. The fact that the wife almost appeared to run back to him and be sorry at the end was very creepy considering the things that he admitted to and she witnessed. That blew it for me.

A Superb Film With Unexpected Twists and Turns
It is difficult to review this film without including spoilers. Best to see it for yourself. The acting, as one would expect, is super. It is of the "Sleuth" and "Rope" school but better than either in my opinion.

BELOW THE RADAR
The title foreshadows the subtle reality behind the film, missed even by some professional critics. Hackman plays Henry Hearst, a noted attorney, and rather well-off, to say the least, and a close friend of police Captain, Victor Benezet, played by Morgan Freeman. Hearst's much, much, younger wife, Chantal, is the erotically, gorgeous, Italian star, Monica Bellucci. Thomas Jane plays a not-so-bright, detective, with a desire for violent solutions to gaining a confession. Hearst, is apparently, incredibly wealthy, and on his way to be the be key note speaker at an event at the request of Captain Benezet's boss, when he is asked by Benezet to stop by headquaters for "ten minutes, or so," to help out with the case of two murdered teenage girls.

Ten minutes stretches into hours and a cat and mouse game between the obviously brilliant lawyer, Hearst, and the cagy, Benezet, ensues. Benezet has his pal squirming, and Hearst's gorgeous wife has shut him out of her affections, over what she saw as his attempts to seduce her teenaged niece, so the introduction of Benezet's evidence of Hearst's possible dallaince and murders of girls about the same age as the niece who is object of Chantal's apparent insecurity, (or was it an excuse (?) for her to rebel against, or reject, her older husband), gives her cause for reflection. As the torturous grilling goes on, the stress on the participents becomes almost unbearable. Hearst and Benezet are featured in innovative flashbacks of the sort one sees regularly on CSI Miami, and as the tension builds, tempers flare, violence seems right around the corner, and one wonders, where is the lawyer's, lawyers(?), as the duel works it's deceptions into the psyche of the suspect, witnesses and Interrogators.

Hearst's guilt/innocence, glides back and forth with every new revelation of each member of the drama. I shall not spoil, the conclusion for you, but the acting, direction, script, and settings are flawless and the ending is somewhat unexpected, though we guessed correctly, our companions did not.

What floated under the radar, hence my title, was the lustfull envy of both Benezet and the young, violence prone, detective at Hearst's wealth, position, intellect, possessions, prominently including his luscious and much younger wife, Bellucci as Chantal. One can see the roiling covetousness of the antagonists of Hearst, and the feeling rises, that one sees so often now days, of a lawman making every effort to nail a wealthy and fortunate man, at the expense of justice. Benezet, seems determined to wreck the rest of Hearst's life to satisfy his jealousy and his young assistant seems to care little about anything but throwing a few punches and maybe getting closer to Chantal, also Benezet's, seeming, but more reserved desire. Mankind's error is that the interpretation of the word "covet" does nor merely mean desiring what another has, but acting maliciously upon that desire, to steal it away, whether or not they benefit from their action.

It is the old case of penis, cash and prominence, envy, of men locked in jobs which pay is nominal, who lust after what they cannot have and another, whose grass may not be as green as they think and desire.

You cannot go wrong with Freeman, Hackman, and Stephen Hopkins masterful direction, exposing lust, uncertainty, disloyalty, distrust, immaturity and envy. Watch Hackman, in the final scene, display his self-respect, despite what must have been a heartbreaking realization.

The dessert is that even the measured glimpses of the alluring Monica Bellucci, remind one of all besides the art, the food and land/sea scapes, that is good about Italy.