Egoyan skilfully brings these story-lines together as the film builds to its disconcerting conclusion.

For all its problems, The Captive does try to hit the themes that have obsessed Egoyan for three decades: desire, death, memory, and time.

Becomes baroque and ludicrous as the Hitchcockian scenario loses its psychological bearings in a web of trashy plot twists and self-conscious jumps in time.

Despite significant resources and a well-known cast, this accumulation of perversions, script whims, and ridiculous situations result in a monstrosity: cold, artificial, clumsy, manipulative, and, ultimately, hollow and banal. [Full review in Spanish]