Review: Contratiempo (aka The Invisible Guest)

A riveting thriller with a reveal as satisfying as the one in The Usual Suspects, Contratiempo (The Invisible Guest) cements Spanish writer-director Oriol Paulo as a talent to watch.

High-powered businessman Adrian Doria (Mario Casas) stands accused of murdering his lover Laura (Bárbara Lennie). His guilt seems apparent - after all, he was found with her dead body in a locked hotel room. Witnesses report hearing screams and seeing no one come in or out of the room. Investigators confirm the door was locked from the inside and all the windows were sealed, making it impossible for anyone other than Doria to be the culprit. Yet the married Doria insists that he is completely innocent and that he and the also married Laura were being blackmailed.

When a last-minute witness surfaces with reportedly damning evidence, witness preparation expert Virginia Goodman (Ana Wagener) has exactly three hours to extract the truth from Doria in order to mount a proper defense. Though Doria initially maintains that he was being blackmailed, he soon reveals he was breaking things off with Laura after their latest rendezvous when they collided with another car on the road. The driver of the other car was killed but, instead of letting Doria report the incident to the police, a panicked Laura convinced him to bury the body. Unfortunately for them, there are two passersby who complicate matters - one of them, a local man (José Coronado) who welcomes Laura into his home whilst he repairs her car, will prove especially significant as the story unfolds.

Or, more precisely, stories since Paulo offers multiple versions of the events as Goodman continuously probes the recalcitrant Doria for more and more details on what happened. Indeed, the devil is in the details with the most important one hiding in plain sight. Contratiempo is so fiendishly crafted that one is never entirely sure of what is real or imagined, and the final reveal may chill the spine.

The actors are all on point with Lennie and Wagener delivering formidable portrayals as the women who seem to have an upper hand when it comes to Doria. Casas, currently one of Spain's most popular and commercially viable stars, does his best to rise to their level (and Coronado's as well) and, for the most part, manages to hold his own and is especially excellent in the later stages of the film. There are moments though, such as the moment when Doria weighs whether to call the police or go along with Laura's plan, that lose their impact because Casas is not skilled enough as an actor to fully convey the character's conflict.

Contratiempo (The Invisible Guest)

Directed by: Oriol Paulo

Written by: Oriol Paulo

Starring: Mario Casas, Ana Wagener, José Coronado, Bárbara Lennie, Francesc Orella