NO SPOILERS YET
Sophie (Sarandon) is a children's illustrator who is married to a,architect (Neil) and together they have 2 children - Elly 7/Ruby 10. The movie takes place in Australia where everyone speaks with an Aussie accent except Sarandon who's character moved to Aus. when she was 17 with her parents from NYC (Father is Aussie, Mother was a New Yorker.
Basically, they have a happy life together (although Sarandon's character is still sad about her Mother's passing) until Emily Blunt's character of Mara comes into the picture. She does Tech stuff at Sophie's husband's work and hosted a party that Sophie & her husband attended. To Sophie's surprise when she arrives, she is wearing the same dress as Mara. Mara and Sophie hit it off as Mara dances with her, drinks with her & pays her much attention. There is a flirty vibe going on initiated by Mara. Mara knows about Sophie's Mother dying & confided in her that she lost a dear friend, Kate, in a tragic fire in Kosovo when they were there doing work with the orphans. As the party winds down & Sophie gets ready to leave, another party goer confronts her with her supposed drinking problem. Apparently, there is a rumor that she drinks too much and her flirty, over the top behaviour at the party only drove that idea home. Sophie denies it and as she and her husband (Neil) leave, she notices Mara up on the balcony watching them. She finds her creepy.
As the movie goes on, things turn up missing in Sophie's home. There is also a mysterious blue car parked across the street that an elderly neighbor claims she saw Sophie getting out of. Sophie becomes paranoid that someone is stealing things from her home and sets her sights on Mara who shows up at her home one day for tea wearing a dress that Sophie had noticed was missing. Sophie goes as far as to break into Mara's home, gets caught and Mara and her husband (they have a daughter too) get a restraining order against her. This doesn't stop Sophie, who has now become obsessed with the idea that Mara is out to get her, from stalking her around the town. In all the craziness, Sophie drives her husband away as she accuses him of cheating on her with Mara.
There is a twist that many will see coming a mile away given a conversation out of no where between 2 main characters to set up the twist BUT there is a double twist at the end that leaves the movie flawed IMO b/c, although entertaining, the movie just doesn't live up to what it could have been. Without the final twist, everything makes sense but the last curve ball makes one question previous motives and leaves open answered questions that never get answered. I think that the movie was more into the big twist at the end than actually realizing that the twist leaves many things up in the air.. and I don't like that.
7/10 only b/c the movie was entertaining, kept me guessing at the beginning and the actor was really good especially from Blunt who did a great job of coming across as normal, then broken, then crazy. It IS very flawed though.. a lot of plot holes.
MAJOR SPOILERS NOW . . .
Kate is, in actuality, Sophie's daughter and Mara assumed her identity (they were both orphans as kids) - I get that. However..many questions about motive and actions come into play.
IF Mara wanted to get a mother and a family, why did she spend a good portion of the film trying to destroy and then kill Sophie? If the movie had left it at Mara felt rejected b/c she was the daughter it would have all made sense but they did not.
Also.. one has to wonder.. she tried to kill Sophie with fire, did she kill Kate?
Here is my conclusion since the movie is a mess in that sense - Mara did NOT kill Kate. If she had killed Kate to assume her identity, then again, she wouldn't have been so enraged at Sophie and tried to kill her if she wanted to come to town and pretend to be her daughter and get the love she wanted.
I think that Kate died in a tragic fire and Mara lost her best friend. She took that anger out on Sophie who had abandoned Kate and wanted to ruin her life. She tried to kill her with fire to try and make her feel the pain that Kate had felt. In the end, Sophie mistakenly assumed that Mara was her daughter and Mara couldn't resist the chance to have a real family - she found it Irresistible.
The Dear Mara letter from the adoption agency I think was real and it was her real Mother rejecting her which possible was the catalyst that set Mara off.. that combined with Kate's death.
The family photos she stole and labeled as her family was Mara holding Kate to her 'we share everything' comment. She wanted her family, she wanted her sisters to be her sisters.. she just wanted Sophie, the woman who had rejected Kate, to not be part of the equation.
Is this accurate? Who knows.. the movie ends with the big twist that Kate is the daughter and Mara is an imposter and then nothing.. and it makes one question the motives and actions of Mara and Kate's horrible fate. There are no answers in the actual movie unfortunately..
Sophie (Sarandon) is a children's illustrator who is married to a,architect (Neil) and together they have 2 children - Elly 7/Ruby 10. The movie takes place in Australia where everyone speaks with an Aussie accent except Sarandon who's character moved to Aus. when she was 17 with her parents from NYC (Father is Aussie, Mother was a New Yorker.
Basically, they have a happy life together (although Sarandon's character is still sad about her Mother's passing) until Emily Blunt's character of Mara comes into the picture. She does Tech stuff at Sophie's husband's work and hosted a party that Sophie & her husband attended. To Sophie's surprise when she arrives, she is wearing the same dress as Mara. Mara and Sophie hit it off as Mara dances with her, drinks with her & pays her much attention. There is a flirty vibe going on initiated by Mara. Mara knows about Sophie's Mother dying & confided in her that she lost a dear friend, Kate, in a tragic fire in Kosovo when they were there doing work with the orphans. As the party winds down & Sophie gets ready to leave, another party goer confronts her with her supposed drinking problem. Apparently, there is a rumor that she drinks too much and her flirty, over the top behaviour at the party only drove that idea home. Sophie denies it and as she and her husband (Neil) leave, she notices Mara up on the balcony watching them. She finds her creepy.
As the movie goes on, things turn up missing in Sophie's home. There is also a mysterious blue car parked across the street that an elderly neighbor claims she saw Sophie getting out of. Sophie becomes paranoid that someone is stealing things from her home and sets her sights on Mara who shows up at her home one day for tea wearing a dress that Sophie had noticed was missing. Sophie goes as far as to break into Mara's home, gets caught and Mara and her husband (they have a daughter too) get a restraining order against her. This doesn't stop Sophie, who has now become obsessed with the idea that Mara is out to get her, from stalking her around the town. In all the craziness, Sophie drives her husband away as she accuses him of cheating on her with Mara.
There is a twist that many will see coming a mile away given a conversation out of no where between 2 main characters to set up the twist BUT there is a double twist at the end that leaves the movie flawed IMO b/c, although entertaining, the movie just doesn't live up to what it could have been. Without the final twist, everything makes sense but the last curve ball makes one question previous motives and leaves open answered questions that never get answered. I think that the movie was more into the big twist at the end than actually realizing that the twist leaves many things up in the air.. and I don't like that.
7/10 only b/c the movie was entertaining, kept me guessing at the beginning and the actor was really good especially from Blunt who did a great job of coming across as normal, then broken, then crazy. It IS very flawed though.. a lot of plot holes.
MAJOR SPOILERS NOW . . .
Kate is, in actuality, Sophie's daughter and Mara assumed her identity (they were both orphans as kids) - I get that. However..many questions about motive and actions come into play.
IF Mara wanted to get a mother and a family, why did she spend a good portion of the film trying to destroy and then kill Sophie? If the movie had left it at Mara felt rejected b/c she was the daughter it would have all made sense but they did not.
Also.. one has to wonder.. she tried to kill Sophie with fire, did she kill Kate?
Here is my conclusion since the movie is a mess in that sense - Mara did NOT kill Kate. If she had killed Kate to assume her identity, then again, she wouldn't have been so enraged at Sophie and tried to kill her if she wanted to come to town and pretend to be her daughter and get the love she wanted.
I think that Kate died in a tragic fire and Mara lost her best friend. She took that anger out on Sophie who had abandoned Kate and wanted to ruin her life. She tried to kill her with fire to try and make her feel the pain that Kate had felt. In the end, Sophie mistakenly assumed that Mara was her daughter and Mara couldn't resist the chance to have a real family - she found it Irresistible.
The Dear Mara letter from the adoption agency I think was real and it was her real Mother rejecting her which possible was the catalyst that set Mara off.. that combined with Kate's death.
The family photos she stole and labeled as her family was Mara holding Kate to her 'we share everything' comment. She wanted her family, she wanted her sisters to be her sisters.. she just wanted Sophie, the woman who had rejected Kate, to not be part of the equation.
Is this accurate? Who knows.. the movie ends with the big twist that Kate is the daughter and Mara is an imposter and then nothing.. and it makes one question the motives and actions of Mara and Kate's horrible fate. There are no answers in the actual movie unfortunately..