THIS TEMPTING MADNESS (2025)

3 stars

Plaion Pictures. Digital. 10th August.

Inspired by actual events (supposedly). Inspired is probably the right word here…

It has a striking opening. A woman in a bright orange flowy dress falling from a great height crashing to the ground.

Mia (Simone Ashley – who you may recognise from BRIDGERTON or THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA 2), awakens in hospital with serious injuries and a fractured memory.

A flashback or partial remembrance to her life before – with her husband Jake (Austin Stowell) and her young daughter. She asks her brother Ajay (Suraj Sharma) where Jake is – he tells her about the massive fall. She can’t speak so she writes.

It appears she was thrown from a balcony in an airport by her other half, who has been arrested and jailed. She is convinced he is not responsible – Detective Colton (Mojean Ara) is investigating what happened, but with her short term memory issues, he is going to have trouble establishing what actually went on.

As she has flashes of her past a more complex picture emerges, with her husband suffering from paranoia and all was not as idyllic as it first appeared. Is he abusive?

A psychological thriller, it is let down by the script from director Jennifer E. Montgomery and the film’s cinematographer Andrew Davis, with it becoming progressively more ridiculous and contrived and dipping into horror territory as it unfolds. But hey, it was based on true events! It is crisply shot and slickly made, with a visual style, aided by the setting in the big flashy house. Ashley fills her role capably.

Steve Kirkham