MovieChat Forums > Under Suspicion (2000) Discussion > What is the title of the book Chantal go...

What is the title of the book Chantal got for Christmas?


I've just seen this film on Polish TV and it kicks ass. It brings to my mind "One Hour Photo" which also tends to be disregarded or labelled as a thriller, inasmuch as this one tends to be pigeonholed as a whodunnit, while in fact both movies are great psychological dramas about scars that run deep in men's fragile egos.

Anyway, thinking back to the Christmas gift scene, which helps flesh out Chantal's psyche profile, I recall that she recounts she gets a book (by Jorge Louis Borges) while her sister gets some jewelry, and she muses over how each of them would have been happier with the other's gift. Assuming she got a book from her husband (although it is not clear who the gifts were FROM), it would be interesting to see which particular novel Henry would have wanted her to read, or would have deemed interesting/fit for her, in his eyes.

Can anyone with a DVD copy help me out here and hit "PAUSE" on the book cover for me? :) The scene happens some time around the middle of the film...

Oh, and since someone in another post mentions Shakespearean qualities: to me this film is smack-in-your-face "Othello" a rebours - we have the "green-eyed monster" referenced a couple of times, and playing the most significant part, although this time it's the female spouse that metaphorically strangles her marriage, rather than the male literally strangling anyone (if we forget the two - nay, three - victims who do indeed get strangled).

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The title is Obra Poética. As I don't know any of Borges' poems, or any of his work, I can't comment on the significance of this. Perhaps you know ?

Maybe the sisters gave each other the apparently inappropriate gifts, as they laugh together after the gifts are opened. But it's not clear, I agree.

The way the seeds of doubt are implanted in the minds of the main players in this film, giving rise to suspicion and then guilt by association, leading to Henry's finally giving up, is brilliant. I don't understand why this film isn't better appreciated.



"Nothing is certain till it's certain".

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