There was a lot of potential in The Jealousy Mana short story from a collection of the same title by the famous Norwegian detective novelist Jo Nesbø, in which a detective investigates the possible murder of a man by his twin brother. However, we find nothing or almost nothing of the narrative intelligence, the complexity of the characters and the talent of the writer to interweave, in a few words, stories one within the other in Killer Heatthe film based on the work and produced by Amazon Prime.
Directed by Philippe Lacôte (Night of the Kings2020), the feature film therefore relates the arrival of private investigator Nick Bali (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), an American expatriate living in Athens, on the island of Crete, where his services are required to shed light on the death of Leo Vardakis (Richard Madden), a young shipping magnate, who allegedly died following an accidental fall while rock climbing.
The deceased’s sister-in-law (Shailene Woodley), married to his twin brother, is convinced that the police were on the wrong track and that Leo was instead the victim of a murder. Helped by a local police officer, Nick will have to confront the secrets, the power and the gray areas of the Vardakis family, true gods on the island, to discover the truth.
The short story, by its succinct form, sometimes requires certain shortcuts that the cinematographic format does not excuse. By taking up the biggest twists and turns of Nesbø’s short story, screenwriters Roberto Bentivegna and Matt Charman deliver a plot that saves its biggest surprises for the end, but which ends in a rushed manner. Indeed, the detective does not often have to worry about realism to unearth the pieces that form his puzzle, even if he leaves obvious traces and he has absolutely no mastery of the art of subtlety.
The screenplay also fails to complicate certain elements of the story which therefore only remain at the cliché stage: the alcoholic with a dark past, the evil twin, the skeletons in the high society closet. Not to mention that it is weighed down by an off-camera voice which never ceases to utter insipid lines, along the lines of “ If you hit me, I hit back » (If you hit me, I hit back) or “ When you’re driven by jealousy, you know what you’re doing is not right, but you do it anyway » (When you are motivated by jealousy, you know what you are doing is wrong, but you do it anyway).
The actors, burdened by this surplus of words and clichés, can only offer grotesque and overplayed performances, with the exception of Shailene Woodley who undoubtedly plays the most credible and mysterious character in the story.
With its soundtrack worthy of a TV movie and its heavenly landscapes straight out of The White Lotus, Killer Heat offers nothing new in terms of staging, but still reserves for the most patient a surprising crescendo finale, unfortunately weighed down by a more or less accomplished morality.