"Obsession and surveillance do not mix." That was one of the main themes of "Rear Window," but Stephan Elliott, writer-director of "Eye of the Beholder," doesn't seem to be aware that Hitchcock beat him to the punch.
In this artsy yet technologically sophisticated film, Elliott ("The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert") attempts to develop a story about the passion of a surveillance expert for a femme fatale.
"Eye of the Beholder" stars Ewan McGregor as the Eye, an agent for the British consulate who has been assigned to a case in which he discovers Joanna (Ashley Judd). Almost immediately after the Eye begins to watch his subjects, Joanna seduces and kills the person to whom the Eye was assigned. After obtaining a sample of Joanna's fingerprints, the prints turn out to have no match.
Normally this event would cause anyone to avoid having anything to do with Joanna. However, the Eye continues to follow her because an apparition of his late daughter beseeches him to protect the cold-blooded killer, since Joanna herself is really only a child.
After following Joanna to another city, the Eye gets hold of a hair sample. DNA tests revealing Joanna's identity lead the Eye to continue to pursue and protect her.
"Eye of the Beholder" falters in a way that will be familiar to anyone who suffered through "Snake Eyes": A potentially good idea presents itself in the trailer but comes crashing down in the movie. Elliott's neo-noir conforms to chronological linearity, but the events that take place easily can be fitted into a circular scheme.
There is nothing inherently wrong with circular logic as long as new pieces of the puzzle are revealed through each turn of the wheel, but "Eye" dismisses this concept. All the crucial facts that come out later in the film, including the reason Joanna has chosen her particular path of life, can be easily predicted in the first 15 minutes.
Elliott uses the apparition of the Eye's daughter to imbue his protagonist with compassion for Joanna. Although this device is somewhat clever, Elliott makes it heavy-handed through repetition. This is especially apparent during a scene where multiple daughters are exposed one after another as the camera pans around the Eye's hotel room.
This example also illustrates Elliott's seeming pride in his use of tricky transition shots to go from city to city. He uses a snow globe as his centerpiece for transitions, making it look like Elliott has seen "Citizen Kane" too many times for his own good.
His cinematic techniques completely fail here, though, because they have no relevance to the events of the film. Clever camera techniques should support the ideas, themes and events of a film, but Elliott's visuals simply distract from his story and lead to nowhere. Elliott should have realized that his camerawork and his use of techno music are far more provocative than his plot.
As if the overwrought style were not enough, Elliott riddles "Eye" with improbabilities and impracticalities. For example, Joanna fails to recognize the Eye even after many suspicious encounters, even though she was professionally trained to elude and identify people following her. Don't expect an ending that will satisfy, either, as it clumps the mixed compassion of its characters with Elliott's pretentiousness.
McGregor gives a listless performance as the Eye, yielding no understanding of his underdeveloped character's real intentions. Judd comes off somewhat better; at least she tries to break out of the lame script to which her character is confined.
The saying goes, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder," but unfortunately in this case, "Eye of the Beholder" lacks that trait no matter how you look at it.
Grade: D
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