Love can be found in most unusual places. That is the case with the protagonist of Captives, 1994 British thriller-drama directed by Angela Pope. Dentist Rachel Clifford (played by Julia Ormond) is in the final stages of the painful divorce from her cheating husband Simon (played by Peter Capaldi) and needs to get some extra income. She takes part-time job as a dentist in Wadsworth maximum security prison. One of her patients is Philip Chaney (played by Tim Roth), enigmatic but charming convict who is just finishing the last months of his sentence. Rachel feels attracted to him and when it turns out that Philip enjoys privilege of daily furloughs all her professional ethics, friends' advices and common sense are useless - she starts torrid romantic relationship with a convict, totally oblivious of the risks involved. Those risks prove to be much greater than she imagined when Towler (played by Colin Salmon), prison's gang leader, finds about the affair and starts blackmailing the lovers.
This is the feature debut for BBC veteran director Angela Pope, and her lack of experience with these kinds of films shows, but only at the end when the conventional drama of Frank Deasy's script morphs into thriller. However, the general impression is more than satisfying, because Pope knows how to convey the atmosphere of despair and bleakness - both emotional and existential - so this seemingly improbable romance looks realistic. Tim Roth, one of the most recognisable faces of 1990s independent cinema, is very convincing as a charming convict, while Julia Ormond plays one of her better roles in otherwise unimpressive period of her career. James Bond fans would also recognise Colin Salmon, best known as M's subordinate in last four films, in somewhat thankless role of a villain. Despite those shortcomings, this shows that even the most banal idea - impossible romance - can be used in original and emotionally engaging fashion.
RATING: 7/10 (+++)
(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on January 24th 2003)
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