Eye of the Beholder

1998 Mystery & Suspense

Part high-tech spy thriller and part psychological study, Eye of the Beholder was Ewan McGregor's first feature film following his mainstream breakthrough performance in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. The Eye (Ewan McGregor) is an agent of the British Secret Service, equipped with the latest in high-tech crime fighting gadgetry and assisted by his indefatigable collegue, Hilary (k.d. lang). The Eye's latest assignment is a surveillance project; the son of a well-known politician has been spending a great deal of money on someone, and they would like to know who and why. A little sleuthing reveals that the mysterious person taking the cash is a woman named Joanna (Ashley Judd), but the trail gets much stickier when the Eye witnesses Joanna pulling a knife and killing the politician's son. Normally, he'd take the shortcut to putting her behind bars, but some time ago he lost contact with his daughter when his wife left him; Joanna reminds the Eye of his daughter, and he's too fascinated with her to bring her to justice. The Eye now follows Joanna obsessively, and discovers that she's also involved with a blind man (Patrick Bergin) and has a history of emotional instability from being abandoned by her father at a young age. Eye of the Beholder was directed by Stephan Elliott, best known for the comedy The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. more..

Director: Stephan Elliott

Starring: Ewan McGregor, Ashley Judd,Jason Priestley, k.d. lang, Patrick Bergin

Reviews

  • Elliot fails to make the needed connection between the audience and a peeper who has lost his moral balance.

    Peter Travers - Rolling Stone

    19 January 2013

  • Far from being a run-of-the-mill slasher pic.

    Mike Clark - USA Today

    19 January 2013

  • Never brings its potentially intriguing plot strands into focus.

    Jay Carr - The Boston Globe

    19 January 2013

  • There's not much else for viewers to do but give themselves over to the whims of the bad-movie gods.

    Ty Burr - Entertainment Weekly

    19 January 2013

  • Attempts to convey emotional dislocation and passion at the same time. All we get is distance.

    Mick LaSalle - The San Francisco Chronicle

    19 January 2013

Awards

  • Best Director

    Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film (2000)