Return To Sender, film review: Glorified TV movie lurches into Misery-style melodrama
(18) Fouad Mikati, 94 mins. Starring: Rosamund Pike, Nick Nolte, Shiloh Fernandez

In terms of its budget and production values, Return to Sender is a comedown for Rosamund Pike after her role in David Fincher's Gone Girl. The film has the feel of a glorified TV movie and lurches into Misery-style melodrama in its final reel.
Pike plays Miranda, a nurse in a small-town hospital. She is practical, self-reliant and ambitious. She dotes on her father (a very crusty-looking Nick Nolte) but can't stand his dog. Her life seems to be humdrum and relatively content. Then she becomes the victim of a viciously brutal sexual assault and her world is shattered.
Pike's performance is as slippery and deceptive as the one she gave in Fincher's film. She won't accept being a victim. The film is continually shifting in tone. One moment, it seems like an issues-driven realist drama; the next, it plays like a low-grade thriller.
Pike's portrayal of the fiercely intelligent but inscrutable heroine is fascinating – but the film itself turns into clumsy exploitation fare.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies