Under Suspicion is one of the absolutely best crime thrillers out there. It was helmed by the director Stephen Hopkins, and its partly French, partly American cast makes it an American-French thriller. Under Suspicion came out in the year 2000 and since then fans have been wondering who the actual killer was. Without giving too much away in the introduction, I want to talk about the basic premise of the movie, and where it has been adapted from.
Under Suspicion is based on the 1981 French film by the name, Garde à vue and partly also adapted from the 1970s British novel Brainwash, written by John Wainwright. The movie was competing at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival and was screened out of competition there. The movie is a tale of a wealthy tax attorney namely Henry Hearst (played by Gene Hackman). In the story, he’s about to give a speech at an elite fundraising party hosted at San Juan, Puerto Rico, as the city celebrates the San Sebastián Festival. Before that happens, he’s called by the police to the police station to be questioned about the body he found the day before.
Under Suspicion: Main Plot
This corpse is of a young girl who had been raped and murdered. Since Hearst is unable to recall the true events and changes the course of events every time the police question him, Captain Victor Benezet (Freeman) and Detective Felix Owens (Jane) are doubtful about his involvement in the murder and rape and question him about his inconsistencies in how he found the dead body. No sooner than later, Heart realizes his conflicting recollection may make him guilty, this resulting in a cold war between him and Victor and Felix. This leads to an intense drama wherein many loopholes are discovered and many people are found to be involved. The pace of the movie is thrilling, to say the least, and that’s why so many people would want to know what happened in the climax, after all.
Under Suspicion: Climax Explained
As Hearst keeps moving back and forth trying to absolve himself of the crime, audiences get more and more suspicious about his involvement in the movie. First of all, besides the refuting claims, there is no actual evidence against Henry, leading to the detectives’ frustration. Time and again, he stresses he’s a well-respected member of the community and all set to deliver a speech at the charity event to raise money for the kids who have been hit by a recent hurricane.
Victor’s superior doesn’t want Hearst to be involved at any cost, but he himself disagrees and keeps hunting for more clues against Hearst. Owens and the rest of the police team also think Hearst’s lies are enough to pin him down. Everyone would like to see him go away freely off this mess and without any concrete DNA evidence, there’s no way to hold him accountable. However, Hearst is known to have a particular character flaw. He visits the prostitutes in a shady area of San Juan and his particular liking for young girls.
Chantal (played by Monica Bellucci) is Hearsts’s young wife, who would very much like the police to take him away. In between the interrogation, Hearts realizes that his wife despises him and she helped the detectives come up with the evidence to take him away. Even though Hearst confesses the crime once, the actual criminal is caught. In the end, Chantal and Hearst ponder over their life.
Under Suspicion Cast: Main And Supporting
The film Under Suspicion stars Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman, Thomas Jane, and French actress, Monica Bellucci in the lead roles. Since each and every character in the movie has a consequential role, it is very important that we define who all played what in the movie. The main supporting cast of Under Suspicion includes actress, Nydia Caro as Isabella, Miguel Ángel Suárez as the superintendent, Pablo Cunqueiro as Detective Castille.
The rest of the cast members are Isabel Algaze as Camille Rodriguez, Patricia Beato as Darlita, Marisol Calero as Sergeant Arias, Vanessa Shenk as Sue Ellen Huddy, and Noel Oscar Alicea Colon as a man in white at the carnival.
