This Hitchcock-style thriller has more twists than the steps of the lighthouse where, once it's introduced into the story, you just know the principal protagonists will end up.

Once psychiatrist Richard Gere has taken on Uma Thurman as a disturbed patient, and been introduced to her seductive sister (Kim Basinger), the story continually dodges this way and that.

You're never quite certain who's plotting what, or which combination of the characters is on which side of the law. Basinger has a hateful husband (Eric Roberts), whom she describes as a Greek Orthodox gangster. Perhaps she'll ensnare Gere into a plan to bump him off?

But no. That's just one of the ways this devious drama doesn't work out. Ignore some fairly foolish goings-on in the courtroom and throw yourself headlong into this intoxicating brew, shot through with flashes of lightning and screechingly scored in the Bernard Herrmann manner by George Fenton.

Basinger makes as luscious a femme fatale as anyone could wish, her acting having improved by miles from earlier days. A polished, excitingly-paced piece of film noir.