The loaded question "you're place or mine?" is the shorthand gambit offered up if you're pretty confident you won't be waking up alone in the morning.

However, when tarty Melanie (Rachael Blake) opts for dashing stranger Sam Neill's place because "I've seen mine" she doesn't expect to wake up on a boat in the middle of the ocean.

She's being spirited away to Neill's island shack where he has a seductive evening of wine and candles planned to entice her to "love him".

Bizarrely, for someone who's been whisked off to a remote rock by a total stranger, Melanie goes along with all this lovey-dovey romancing.

She appears to be suffering a sort of Stockholm Syndrome, where the captive becomes emotionally attached to the kidnapper - but's it's kicked in after just 24 hours.

What follows struggles to remain credible despite a sexually precocious performance from the watchable Blake and the usual assured turn we expect from Neill.

Indeed, so perverse does the role reversal narrative become you could quite easily imagine Michael Winner in his heyday helming the show.

On the plus side, there's some wry humour helping things along and plenty of unseen plot swings although they do require a major suspension of disbelief.

On the down side, there's probably a couple of psychological twists too far and the whole thing winds up a dubiously warped fable.

Kiwi director Gaylene Preston has conjured up an intriguing premise - but it's far from strangely perfect.

Tim Evans