Adam (Charles Rashard) and Jill (Rachel Forbes), former flames who may or may not be interested in rekindling their relationship, leave a party together and set off down the road. Along their drive, Adam swerves to miss an oncoming car, and crashes, sending Jill through the windshield, killing her. An unfortunate accident… or is it?
The Deposition deals with Adam’s post-accident journey as he finds himself unable to recall EXACTLY what happened to cause the accident. Were Jill and Adam getting too frisky and he was distracted, were they fighting, was there really oncoming traffic? Adam can’t recall, and he’s being badgered during a deposition testimony about whether it was an accident at all?
If the abuse during the deposition wasn’t enough, the townsfolk have their own issues and suspicions, and Adam finds himself abandoned, alone and still unable to remember anything. As the film rolls along, Adam breaks down and confronts everything from who he is to who he may be to what everyone else thinks he is.
The film flirts with some extremely dark narrative territory before its done, but it all works. What’s strange for me is that my biggest criticism could actually be considered a compliment: the film looks too good. For a film that delves into a man’s mental breakdown, everything is so crisp and clean. The reason this is a criticism is that when everything is so wonderfully photographed, and a man is in turmoil… he doesn’t seem to be suffering enough. Did that make any sense? I don’t know, but it’s how I feel.
Charles Rashard has to handle the majority of the film, since, you know, it’s all about him, and he does a solid job of it. He manages to pull off nice and lost while still harboring enough anger to make you as curious about what happened and what he’s capable of as he seems to be. Which is good, you want to stay as lost as the lead, because if you’ve got it all figured out, or don’t care, then the movie doesn’t work. For me, The Deposition is a stylish thriller which manages to pull off quite a few surprises before its over, and that’s something to be appreciated.
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