The Eye, (Ewan McGregor), is a technically sophisticated investigator working out of the British Embassy in Washington. He's great at his job, but he's haunted by the past – his wife left him years before taking their daughter – he knows his child only from an old school photo, yet she's so real to him he can see and talk to her.
This obsession has driven The Eye to the point of madness – and when, on a routine case, he sees a beautiful woman (Ashley Judd) kill a man, he shifts his obsession to her and begins to follow her – a bloody trail that will lead all over the country...
Marc Behm's marvellous '60s book about a crazed investigator was filmed before, in 1984, in France, by Claude Miller as Mortelle Randonees. Stephan Elliott has wrought quite a few changes, making the detective much younger than he was in the original; this reduces the impact of the father-daughter theme, but Elliott's considerable skills as a filmmaker compensate by ensuring that this very classy thriller is not only exciting visually but also bold and original. It's a bit confusing in the early stages, but the enjoyably dogged performance of Ewan McGregor, the sexy, disturbing presence of Ashley Judd and the tart contributions of k.d. lang, as The Eye's boss, make this most unusual road movie well worth a visit.
