By Chuck Walton
Story
In this tale of two pretties, we see a woman living two lives, or so it
seems. The challenge for Demi (and the audience) is, which is real?
Country Demi and City Demi are both leading fab lives, both being
romanced by separate men and both losing their marbles as they try to
figure out which is legit. You see, when high-powered City Demi goes to
sleep in her swank New York loft, she wakes up as Country Demi, a
widowed mother of two who’s living the simple life among the wildflowers
(and vice versa). Things get tough in this charming psycho-romance as
the suitors (William Fichtner and Stellan Skarsgard) force their
respective Demis to choose or lose. Though variants of this story have
been done before (did anyone see "Sliding Doors" with Gwyneth Paltrow?),
"Passion of Mind" is a gripping story that makes both lives seem genuine
and endearing. Unfortunately, the movie unravels when the payoff proves
to be muddy and meandering
Acting
After a three-year absence from the screen and a string of box office
duds, Demi resists the hysterics and overacting, instead painting a
gentle portrait of two women struggling to keep it together. Fichtner
and Skarsgard add the right amount of drama as equally compelling lovers
competing from opposite sides of the dream world
Direction
Pulling off what easily could’ve been disregarded as a preposterous
premise, French director Alain Berliner ("Ma Vie en Rose") gets points
for milking Demi’s best performance since, well … let’s just say Demi’s
best performance. He also shows us a beautiful French countryside and a
majestically colorful New York City, making it perfectly understandable
why our hero can’t let go of either world