Spoilers are off their meds.

It’s been a while since I have seen a decent psychological thriller, and I’m glad that wait is over. If you haven’t had a chance, this is one you can see online so I’d recommend you stop reading and go watch it. That being said, I know this is not everyone’s cup of tea. I love a good puzzle, not because I’m good at solving them but because I appreciate the talent it takes to set one up. That also means that if you’re not into movies that give you more questions than answers, you should stay far away from this one.

(Credit: Atresmedia Cine)

God’s Crooked Lines (2022) is directed by Oriol Paulo who wrote the screenplay with Guillem Clua and Lara Sendim. It is an adaptation of the 1979 novel of the same name by Torcuato Luca de Tena. Alice Gould de Almenara (Bárbara Lennie) is admitted into a mental institution by recommendation of her doctor and with approval of her husband. The letter of her doctor judges her as an extremely manipulative and devious person capable of fooling psychologists with extremely crafty schemes due to paranoia. She has also apparently attempted to poison her husband although she claims that’s been made up to unlawfully have her committed.

This is a film where the initial premise will be twofold. Alice, which will go by Alicia from now on, has been committed voluntarily with a made up story while she investigates the death of one of the patients. It was ruled a suicide, but she suspects differently as she’s been employed by the victim’s father to investigate for fowl play. She is interviewed and tested by Dr. Arellano (Javier Beltrán), to whom she’s almost truthful but explains certain things she will only discuss with the director, Dr. Alvar (Eduard Fernandez), the only person inside that knows the true reason for her to be here.

Let’s stop here. Everything I’ve said so far was true, up to certain point where it’s put in doubt. The idea here is we’re seeing this from Alicia’s POV which is proven flawed when new evidence comes into the picture or the person she expects to corroborate her story turns out to be a total stranger. Is she being gaslighted, framed or is her own mind playing tricks on her? It’s not clear to her, or to Dr. Montserrat Castel (Loreto Mauleón) who has her own objections to the methods employed by Dr. Alvar and wants so desperately to believe her. The only people on her side seem to be the mental patients such as Ignacio Urquieta (Pablo Derqui) who suffers from hydrophobia and the enigmatic twins Rómulo y Remo (Samuel Soler). Others also come into the picture as possible antagonists, allies and amongst them, one or two might be a murderer.

The movie plays with the timeline showing us the events during a thunderstorm during which one of the patients is found dead and all the rest have managed to escape their cells. There’s some amazing scenes as Julia feels her own sanity slipping and knows she must solve the mystery before she loses her mind. It all rests on Bárbara Lennie’s performance as Alicia and she knocks it out of the park. I do have to insist you watch this in Spanish even if you must rely on subtitles. The execution works a lot better with the right entonation.

Extremely recommended for fans of psychological thrillers. Rather than going for major twists, you have to deal with every piece of evidence as a possibility you are being fooled. Not every character introduced is who they say they are. This is brain candy for people who like these kinds of puzzles, and I know some audiences will not have the patience for it. For the audience who love them, this well worth a watch if not more.

That will do for now.