Mistaken

Mistaken

Mistaken

Moviecut—Mistaken

"The Double Life of Eleanor Kendall" (a.k.a., "Mistaken") is a slow burner that focuses on a woman seeking the culprit who has stolen her identity. Nellie Givens (née Kendall) travels to Montreal to confront the perpetrator. But the ninety-minute filmed seemed interminable in finally revealing what motivated the other woman to steal Nellie's identity and her life. When Nellie meets her double, she is charmed by a dynamic woman and her young daughter Sarah. Nellie had lost a child in a miscarriage and feels a special bonding with the little girl. She becomes reluctant to report the woman to the police out of genuine human concerns. In a subplot that bogs the film down even more, Nellie meets a dashing Englishman staying at her bed and breakfast in Montreal. There was not much chemistry between the two characters. Yet, the film strings out their affair with trips to the lake, a brief swim, and a not-so-torrid bedroom romp. Things finally come to a head in the final twenty minutes of the film. Poor "Julie" once met Nellie mother at an airport, learned a lot about her, and, Nellie was only one of Julie's victims. She stole other people's identities because she was desperate to safeguard her daughter from a deranged husband. As Nellie was a sucker for a sob story, she bonded with Julie and eventually confronted the psycho husband. Despite the good cast, including a stunning performer playing Nellie Givens, the artistic choices never really worked. There was a superstitious old woman from Hungary named Madeleine, who lived with Julie and Sarah and dreamed that the red scarf worn by Nellie portended death to Julie. But the old woman was wrong. The scarf, like so many other gimmicks used in this film, never really captured the viewer's attention.