God’s Crooked Lines (Netflix, 2022)
God's Crooked Lines is the elegant and intricate new psychological thriller by acclaimed Spanish writer-director Oriol Paulo, who also made the modern classic Contratiempo and the best Harlan Coben series El Inocente.
God’s Crooked Lines is the second adaptation - the first being a Mexican movie in 1983 - of the famous novel Los Renglones Torcidos de Dios by Torcuato Luca de Tena. Paulo wrote the script of this new version together with Guillam Clua and Lara Sendim.
The film premiered earlier this year at the San Sebastián Film Festival and was released into Spanish cinemas on October 7th by Warner Brothers.
Set in 1979, the story follows private investigator Alice Gould de Almenara (Barbara Lennie), who goes undercover in a psychiatric hospital to solve a murder mystery.
The hospital is set within the confines of a luxurious country estate, for which the old Tabacalera building in Tarragona and a former Mercedes car plant in Barcelona were used to portray it.
While trying to crack the case Alice becomes one with the patients - the title God’s Crooked Lines being a reference to the old fashioned way of looking at the mentally ill.
‘Old fashioned’ is kind of an operative term here: the mental institution at times feels like a real madhouse and the patients show off their craziness.
But it serves a purpose and raises a serious question: who is really crazy here and what does crazy look like?
So before long the hospital becomes something of a maze and it is not clear if Alice will actually make it out again.
As always, Paulo dives deep into the dark side of the human psyche (which, of course, can also be a labyrinth). As one character puts it at one point: ‘We are all looking for something and insanity is the quickest way to find it.’
Even though the movie is quite leisurely paced, Paulo keeps the tension on and the twists coming.
Acting is top notch throughout, with Lennie being the obvious standout, but supporting actors are fine too. Tech credits are polished and professional all round, from the striking cinematography by Bernat Bosch to the elegant score by Fernando Velazquez.
With God’s Crooked Lines, Oriol Paulo proves himself once again to be the Spanish Master of Suspense - a movie like Spellbound comes to mind - even though this time around it feels he’s also channeling Guillermo del Toro.
At a little over 150 minutes, this is a slow burning mystery that fully hits the mark.
An admirable achievement, which will only enhance Paulo’s international reputation.