'The Double Hour,' not-too-taut thriller

Coolly cerebral, warmly Italian, Hitchcockian in its gleeful needling of the central nervous system, "The Double Hour" is the remarkably self-assured feature film debut of Giuseppe Capotondi, erstwhile director of commercials and music videos and, apparently, a master of suspense.

Of course, letting on that plot twists ensue will almost change, if not ruin, the experience for some viewers, whose antennae will be quivering trying to pick up the clues. Relax. "The Double Hour" will baffle even the most relentless movie sleuth, but it's also a solid dramatic thriller, with a performance by the largely unknown Kseniya Rappoport that could do for her what "Run Lola Run" did for Franka Potente ("The Bourne Identity").

Sonia (Rappoport) is a Slovenian immigrant working as a maid in an upscale hotel in Turin, where she has few friends and little life. But at a speed-dating event one night, she meets Guido (Filippo Timi), an ex-policeman, widower and jaded veteran of the dating scene, but who responds to Sonia immediately. Romance blossoms. But during a getaway weekend to the manor house where Guido serves as security chief, they're abducted by a highly professional gang of art thieves who clean out the house. In the course of the action, Sonia is shot in the head. No, she doesn't die.

But she does wake up in a hospital, and everything from there is up for grabs. It should be said on director Capotondi's behalf that while the intricacy of the plot is certainly an asset, it is not the only string on his bow. The dramatic elements of "The Double Hour" are handled adroitly, both Rappoport and Timi are terrific, and the technical filmmaking is first-rate. At the same time, one would need six senses to figure out exactly where this thing is going.