On an academic and thriller level, I rather like what Decision to Leave presents. But, for me, it has a central hole that it fails to fill that ultimately left me cold.

The film is about a detective investigating the accidental death of a husband whose wife appears innocent… but suspicions start to grow and the situation grows complicated when the two fall for one another. Will the detective follow the bread crumbs and will he do his duty in the end?

I liked the mystery/thriller aspects of this film quite a bit. I liked how it twists and turns and subverts our expectations. And just when you think you have the movie down, it takes a break and comes back with a leveled up version of its twisty thriller story.

Unfortunately, this film is also a romance that I didn’t feel connected to. I didn’t feel the chemistry between the detective and the wife at the start so all the admissions of unrequited love left me cold. Yes, I understood what the emotions and manipulations meant, but I couldn’t feel the tragic emotion core the film was trying to uncover.

Which is all quite unfortunate because the heart of the film is in its tragic and toxic love story. I could only engage with this film on a clinical/academic level and that’s not where it wanted to live. Did it tell a cool twisty story with fascinating intellectual and emotional arcs? Yes. Did I feel what they wanted me to feel? No.

Score: 84