Sandra (Asia Argento, Land of the Dead) is an emotionally wounded woman who drifts back into the life of her ex-lover, Miles (Michael Madsen, Reservoir Dogs), a wheeling and dealing businessman who is past his prime and in debt. While Miles sees an opportunity to rectify a major regret in his life by getting back together with Sandra, she's only interested in rehashing the past and forcing him to acknowledge the ways he violated her when they were together. As the details of said violations are slowly doled out, it becomes obvious that what Sandra is coming around to has less to do with finding closure and more with obtaining revenge.

This dynamic plays out in two ponderous scenes that are made all the more interminable by some awful dialogue and Madsen's over-reliance on his standard issue gravelly voice and squinty-eyed stare instead of actually acting. When the film suddenly flips midway through the second act and becomes a trashy, pulp thriller, the move reeks of desperation by Assayas to keep not only the audience awake, but possibly himself as well. The film does pick up a small amount of steam by suddenly moving the action to Hong Kong and piling on one ridiculous assassin on the run routine after another, but this quickly becomes tiring. It's a relief when the whole thing just fizzles into an unsatisfying ending and the last blurry shot fades to black.

If there is any reason to see the film it's for the fierce performance of Argento. Even though she is playing basically the same character that she has handled in several films, she finds new ways of expressing the vulnerability and volatile nature of such a damaged woman. It's a great performance that deserves better than this film can offer. The rest of the cast either overact to detrimental effect or don't act at all. Particularly bad is a protracted cameo by Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon. Why she's in this movie is anyone's guess, but it's the most embarrassing acting turn by a musician since Elvis stepped in front of a camera.

There aren't even any interesting visuals that can help distract from the weak dialogue and the hapless actors forced to spout it. The whole film is extremely flat looking with Assayas employing the annoying tactic of shooting almost the whole thing in close-up and medium close-up shots.  While it was probably intended to make the audience feel as disoriented as the characters, it only highlights the poor performances.

The most frustrating thing is that it doesn't feel like anyone involved with the film, aside from Argento, is even trying to create something worth watching. Failing miserably as both a character study and a thriller, this is an early contender for worst film of the year.

Matt Wedge is a writer and film critic living in Chicago.