A gripping crime thriller that doesn't lag and manages to maintain its pace throughout - that's "The Invisible Guest" or " Contratiempo" , as it was originally named in Spanish , for you. The story and screenplay are quite slick,enough to inspire remakes in Italian , Hindi and Telugu.The film comes highly recommended with a 8.1 /10 rating on IMDb.
Adrian Doria , a successful businessman , is out on bail for the murder of his lover Laura in a rural hotel Adrian`s lawyer Felix hires a very prestigious defense attorney, Virginia Goodman , to fight his case. Virginia turns up at Adrian`s door one morning and informs him that the prosecutor has found a witness who will testify soon , and so Adrian has to tell his story completely and quickly.Thus , the story begins.
First ...why was Adrian framed for the murder of Laura. According to Adrian , he and his lover Laura had been blackmailed into coming to the hotel with 100,000 Euros. But he is knocked out unconscious in the room and wakes up to find Laura dead .The hotel room is locked from inside and there is no sign of any forced entry . Being the only other person in the room , Adrian is convicted.
Virginia suspects something is amiss and probes further. Adrian then blurts out the story.While driving back to Barcelona, from a secret rendezvous with Laura, Adrian swerves to avoid a deer on the road and hits a car coming from the opposite direction.They find the driver , young Daniel Garrido , a bank employee dead. To erase the evidence, they push the car , along with the driver , into the nearby lake .
Coincidentally , Adrian`s damaged car while being towed away is chanced upon by Daniel`s father , Tomas who offers to help and takes Laura home while he gets the car ready . There Laura meets Elvira who talks about her son Daniel endearingly.When Laura is about to leave , Tomas notes down the number since he has doubts about Laura`s claim that she was driving when she hit a deer.
All along , Adrian paints a picture that it was Laura who was manipulative and suggested that they drown Daniel ( who he reveals ,was in fact not dead when they drowned him ) .He also tells Virginia that Laura hacked Daniels ID and siphoned money from the bank where he was employed to make it look like he had embezzled the bank).Meanwhile , Tomas follows Adrian and begs him to tell him where he buried Daniel.
Virginia keeps grilling Adrian and tells him that there was actually no witness , as she had claimed earlier. She makes it seem to Adrian as if she is on his side and suggests he tell the judge that it was Tomas who had hit him and killed Laura , thinking that they were responsible for Daniel`s death.Adrian starts to confide in Virginia and spills the beans- it was he who masterminded everything -from drowning Daniel in his car to hacking his account . Laura was actually suffering from anxiety and was a loose cannon who needed to be shut up.
After hearing the entire confession , Virginia tells Adrian that Tomas had framed him by making Adrian and Laura come to the rural hotel where Elvira, his wife, worked. It was easy for her to open the room and let Tomas in and out ,using the master keys. She also tells him that Tomas had been stalking adrian, Felix ( his lawyer) and even herself. She points out to a building across the road where they can see Tomas staring at them.
Having said this , Virginia suggests they take a 10 minute break while she asks Adrian to return his lawyer`s call ( which he had missed since Virginia asked him to switch off his mobile at the beginning of their conversation ) . Virginia walks quickly towards the building where they saw Tomas staring from.Felix tells Adrian that Virginia was late and would be arriving soon. Adrian`s pen explodes and then he realises that his pen had been bugged and his entire confession had been recorded. He looks out from his window to see Virginia standing next to Tomas in the other apartment. " Virginia " removes her mask to reveal that she is actually , Elvira , Daniel`s mother!
Elvira rings up the police to deliver the taped confession while the real Virginia arrives at Adrian`s apartment !
Neatly packed,fast paced and at a decent run time of 106 minutes, I`m sure you wont be bored for a single minute of this film.The story has been written and directed by Oriol Paulo.
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