Film review: Trauma (15)

A mindgame set in East London with a Britcom stalwart and an American beauty - this could have been traumatic for all the wrong reasons.

But Colin Firth brings depths to the part that his work in Love Actually and Bridget Jones wouldn't allow.

Ben (Firth) wakes up from a coma to find wife Elisa (Naomie Harris) died in a car crash where he was the driver.

As he retreats into his guilt and loss, he grows angry with the uncaring world outside.

He tries to scrape his life back together and starts to fall in love with neighbour Charlotte (Mena Suvari - American Beauty and American Pie).

But director Marc Evans (My Little Eye) pumps doubt into the story's fractured timeline. What is real? Is Elisa dead? Why does a medium say she isn't? Why is he being followed? Is he a murder suspect?

Firth, so accomplished in Girl With a Pearl Earring, is surprisingly good at being haunted, stubbly and scared as he tries to break out of his own head. The bleak, merciless tones of the camerawork and spidery imagery build on a sense of fear.

Some of the plot threads work, others break before they truly deliver. Trauma can get very confusing but the lights just about stay on.

Mono rating: six out of ten