In an unnamed Latin American country that has recently thrown off the yoke of military dictatorship, famed attorney and former activist Gerardo Escobar (Stuart Wilson) is returning home from a meeting with the President when he suffers a flat tire on a secluded road in the middle of a storm.
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Returning home with the aid of a passing motorist, the pleasant-seeming Dr. Roberto Miranda (Ben Kingsley), Gerardo infuriates his wife Paulina (Sigourney Weaver) by informing her that he has accepted a presidential appointment to head a commission investigating human rights abuses under the old regime.
A former victim of state-sponsored "interrogation" herself, Paulina is furious at what she sees as his complicity in a coverup of the truth. But her anger turns to white hot fury when Dr. Miranda arrives to return Gerardo's flat tire -- and Paulina believes she hears a voice from her dark past.
Stealing Dr. Miranda's car, taking it to a deserted stretch of road, and searching it thoroughly, Paulina finds evidence that seems to confirm her suspicions.
Returning to her home, she ties Dr. Miranda to a chair, gags him, and threatens both him and her husband with a gun. For she believes that he is not the kindly physician he seems, but rather he is the unseen sadist who, 15 years before, put her through unspeakable torture and sexual brutality, all to the tune of Schubert's "Death and the Maiden."
Is Dr. Miranda a beast in disguise? Or has Paulina finally gone over the edge? Nothing is certain as Gerardo attempts to prevent his love from exacting her vengeance, even as he struggles to learn the truth.
The review of this Movie prepared by James Craver
