Return to Sender (2004)
Genre: Drama / Crime
Duration: 103 minuten
Country:
Denmark / United States / United Kingdom
Directed by: Bille August
Stars: Connie Nielsen, Kelly Preston and Aidan Quinn
IMDb score:
6,3 (2.632)
Releasedate: 17 September 2004
This movie is not available on US streaming services.
Return to Sender plot
"How can you save someone, who won't save herself?"
Frank Nitzche, a disbarred ex-top lawyer who specialized in murder cases as a litigator, earns his living by passing on the latest letters from inmates. He makes contact with death row inmates under a false name and gives their correspondence to journalists for a generous fee. His latest subject is Charlotte Cory, convicted of kidnapping and murdering a baby. But as he delves into the case, he becomes more and more fascinated by the murder and his conviction grows that there may be more going on than what the facts suggest. He therefore decides to contact Charlotte Cory. After this meeting, he is completely captivated by this case and decides to investigate himself.
Actors and actresses
Charlotte Cory
Frank Nitzche
Susan Kennan
Martin North
Mark Schlesser
Joe Charbonic
Stella / Julie
Joe Hammond
Mary Hammond
Kirstie
Reviews & comments
Alathir
-
- 2150 messages
- 1650 votes
"One moment of madness is within all of us. The unlucky ones pay for it, the rest of us live without ever knowing it's within us and never learn to understand ourselves."
A sentence from Frank's letters that Charlotte was thinking about and which has also stayed with me. Since she turns out to be innocent at the end, she would have paid an even greater price if Frank had not saved her from that horrible fate.
Return to Sender is a more than decent crime film. I found the ending surprising to say the least. The death penalty is criticized here, rightly in a subtle way. Such cruel punishments must be carefully considered before being administered.
The cast plays very well. Connie Nielsen portrays her character very believably. I also thought Aidan Quinn, who in a way reminds me of Mel Gibson, both because of his low voice and his face, was very strong. At a certain point Charlotte becomes a kind of martyr in which she pays for what she has done to her sister. She then asks Frank if he believes in the afterlife.
Perhaps it is equally interesting to mention what Steven Pincker writes about materia in his book Enlightenment Now (which I am currently reading): "Belief in an afterlife implies that health and happiness are not that important, because life on earth is an infinitesimally small part of constitutes one's existence... and that martyrdom is perhaps the best thing that can happen to a human being."
Charlotte's martyrdom makes it extremely difficult for Frank, because how can you save someone who does not want to be saved?
Translated from Dutch · View original
Ebenezer Scrooge
-
- 2150 messages
- 3092 votes
When I saw Aidan Quinn I had to dig into my memory for a moment and then oh yes, I remembered it: Desperately Seeking Susan. He has pretty much the same head here, the same ice blue look as Rutger Hauer (80's), I always had the idea that I was looking at Kim Basinger and Rutger Hauer.
The sex scene was originally conceived in such a prison room where visitors and prisoners can talk to each other via a telephone, never seen before.
Unfortunately, the ending is once again too lazy: he is watching old videos and sure enough... there he sees a familiar head and he knows who the perpetrator is. To complete the cliché, he presses the remote control and the image freezes when the person in question looks straight into the camera.
But otherwise this is anything but a cliché drama thriller, I actually liked it.
LA once again looks wonderfully degenerate and dreary in an attractive way... Oh no, recorded in Tulsa, Texas, I just read.
Translated from Dutch · View originalLatest News
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