Il testimone invisible (2018)

Directed by: Stefano Mordini | 102 minutes | thriller, crime | Actors: Riccardo Scamarcio, Miriam Leone, Fabrizio Bentivoglio, Maria Paiato, Sara Cardinaletti, Nicola Pannelli, Sergio Romano, Paola Sambo, Ascanio Balbo, Gerardo De Blasio

‘Il testimone invisibile’ (2018) is the Italian remake of the Spanish thriller ‘Contratiempo’ (2016). Packed with plot twists, half-truths and unreliable narrators, the story is apparently so appealing to filmmakers that there is now also a Bollywood variant (‘Badla’, 2019). If this film follows the path of ‘Perfetti sconosciuti’ (2016), of which there are now 13 remakes (!), employment among actors will be created in quite a few countries.

Adriano Doria is an exorbitantly wealthy businessman. At the beginning of the film it is said that it is easier for him to pay someone 100,000 euros in silence than to divorce his wife, because that will run into the millions. So so rich. And yes, Adriano has something to hide. But that’s not what he was arrested for. Recently, Adriano was found in a hotel room with his secret mistress Laura, a famous photographer and visual artist. She was murdered, he was knocked unconscious and has a head wound. Of course he is behind the murder of Laura, the authorities think, but he himself has a different, hardly plausible explanation. He claims someone else was in the room. Someone who knocked him down and then killed Laura. The problem is that this cannot be proven. The door is locked from the inside and there are no signs of burglary, let alone a motive. How could Laura have been killed by someone else?

Because money can buy anything, Adriano’s lawyer has enlisted the help of Virginia Ferrara. She is an expert in her field and has never lost a case. She is supposed to prepare his case with Adriano, who is currently under house arrest, and for that he must tell her the absolute truth. Time is running out, because there is someone known to the Public Prosecution Service whose testimony will mean the end of Adriano’s free life. Adriano and Virginia have three hours to come up with a conclusive story before the DA will speak with this mysterious witness. Virginia is shrewd and intelligent and knows how to extract the truth. Or is she unable to do this?

‘Il testimone invisibile’ is a slick thriller that keeps you guessing at the true facts of the events. The flashbacks here are a necessary and effective means of telling the story. It’s a shame that the main character doesn’t exactly deserve the viewer’s sympathy, because that leaves the outcome more cold than you would wish based on the tight tension. Riccardo Scamarcio (‘John Wick: Chapter 2’) shapes this calculating businessman well, and Miriam Leone (Laura) is also well cast. Nice role also for Maria Paiato, as the tenacious lawyer. Some plot elements are a bit improbable, but if you can accept that, ‘Il testimone invisibile’ offers a nice guessing game.