Plagued with grief over the murder of her daughter, Valerie Somers suspects that her husband John is cheating on her. When Valerie disappears, Detective Leon Zat attempts to solve the mystery of her absence. A complex web of love, sex and deceit emerges -- drawing in four related couples whose various partners are distrustful and suspicious about each other's involvement.
Acting
LaPaglia's seething helplessness; Rush's devastating stillness.
Direction
Ray Lawrence treats suspicion like humid weather—inescapable.
Writing
Every dialogue double-crosses; no one says what they mean.
Director
Ray Lawrence
Anthony LaPaglia
Leon Zat
Geoffrey Rush
John Knox
Barbara Hershey
Valerie Somers
Kerry Armstrong
Sonja Zat
Rachael Blake
Jane O'May
Vince Colosimo
Nick
Russell Dykstra
Michael
Daniela Farinacci
Paula D'Amato
Peter Phelps
Patrick Phelan
Leah Purcell
Claudia Wiss
Glenn Robbins
Pete O'May
Manu Bennett
Steve Valdez
Nicholas Cooper
Sam
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Adapted from Andrew Bovell's play Speaking in Tongues; the original had supernatural elements that Lawrence stripped for brutal realism.
The 2001 Australian release predated the prestige TV antihero boom—Tony Soprano owes Leon Zat a drink for mapping masculine collapse this early.
AU
