A suspenseful and compelling family drama
z hayes | TX | 02/11/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Based on best-selling novelist Jodi Picoult's "The Tenth Circle", this movie adaptation [first aired on Lifetime] provides a searing portrayal of a family in crisis. Freshman Trixie Stone [Britt Robertson] comes home from a party and breaks down in front of her dad Daniel [Ron Eldard], claiming an ex-boyfriend, Jason raped her. Thus begins the family's descent into 'hell', and when deeply hidden family secrets get exposed,the very fabric of the family is threatened.
Mom and wife Laura [Kelly Preston] is a college professor who is having an affair with her student and is wracked by guilt when she is absent from home during Trixie's breakdown. Dad and husband Daniel also has a secret - he was once a suspect in a murder investigation. Things get worse when Jason, the alleged rapist, is found dead in the river sometime later. Though it's initially ruled a suicide, evidence points to something else, and Daniel finds himself embroiled in a murder investigation for the second time.
Though it does play out like a made-for-TV movie, I found it quite watchable - Britt Robertson is excellent as the emotionally vulnerable Trixie and Ron Eldard is credible as the devastated father who is also struggling with his marriage. Kelly Preston's performance as Laura failed to impress and her scenes weren't that many.
The DVD has no extras [except for some movie trailers]. All in all , this is worth checking out, especially for fans of Ms Picoult [I also liked the screen adaptation of Plain Truth with Mariska Hargitay].
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