Passion of Mind

Demi Moore is torn between parallel lives in this obtuse, insincere, romantic psychological drama...but not until the last 15 minutes of the movie. For the first five reels even she doesn't care whether she's really 1) a single Manhattan career gal who has dreams in which she's a lovelorn widow in the south of France, or 2) a lonely French widow who dreams of a life as a big city career gal. Moore's performance is utterly vanilla, while the plot--with a generic nice guy in love with her in each life--is completely static up until the moment when her mind finally begins to fracture. Why these two men (Stellan Skarsgard and William Fincher) each cling to her so desperately in spite of her romantic selfishness and her schizophrenia is a mystery, because she's not the least bit compelling. Not recommended. (R. Blackwelder)