Oriol Paulo’s latest psychological thriller, God’s Crooked Lines, is dialogue-heavy, unlike recent films from the genre that rely on action set-pieces. Right from when we first set eyes on the protagonist, Alice Gould (Barbara Lennie), the film pulls us into a labyrinth of truths and lies. This intricate web gets more complex by the minute and every dialogue precariously perches itself on the thin line between sanity and insanity.
The film is set in an asylum where Gould, a private investigator, admits herself to uncover the truth behind the death of an inmate. She manages to hoodwink the system and enters the institution by faking a case of extreme paranoia.
She is, however, forced to prove her sanity to the doctors in the asylum after a trusted aide turns on her. With overwhelming evidence against her, Gould’s desperate measures to find believers in her story is what makes God’s Crooked Lines such an intriguing watch.
The portrayal of asylum inmates might be generic to a fault and should have been left in the ’70s in which the film is set. These characters, however, are still peppered with enough layers to keep the viewers engaged for 150-odd minutes.
Based on the book of the same name by Spanish writer Torcuato Luca de Tena, the film is written by Paulo, Guillem Clua and Lara Sendim, and the screenplay structure is a big plus. While we are left to grapple with Gould’s struggle, we are also jumping into the past to see the murder of an inmate and the escape of another. The way these timelines coalesce is a writing masterstroke.
Drawing parallels with Leonardo di Caprio starrer-Shutter Island is natural. From the premise—a private investigator entering an asylum—to both being period films and book adaptations, the similarities are uncanny. The performances too are chillingly brilliant, but God’s Crooked Lines is certainly its own beast.
Whenever and wherever in focus, Lennie owns the screen, but the supporting cast is stunning in equal measures. Be it the genial doctor Montserrat Castell (Loreto Mauleon), fellow asylum inmate Igancio (Pablo Derqui), or chief doctor Dr Alvar (Eduard Fernandez). Like Paulo’s previous films, here too, nothing is simple, and as we wait for the proverbial twist to drop, the filmmaker doesn’t disappoint. The ending isn’t just a simple hoodwink but the final piece of a convoluted jigsaw puzzle of a film that never, for once, takes the audience for granted.
