Captives

Julia Ormond - Rachel Clifford
Tim Roth - Philip Chaney
Keith Allen - Lenny
Siobhan Redmond - Sue
Peter Capaldi - Simon
Colin Salmon - Towler
Kenneth Cope - Dr. Hockley
Richard Hawley - Sexton
Jeff Nuttall - Harold
Nathan Dambuza - Moses

After a painful divorce from a cheating husband (Peter Capaldi), Rachel Clifford (Julia Ormond), a 30-year-old dentist, gets a part-time job at high security Wandsworth Prison – and finds love within the prison's walls. Emotionally unprepared for her new post, Rachel is welcomed by the expected chorus of hoots and wolf-whistles from the male inmates who are about to become her patients. Rachel forms an unlikely friendship with soft-spoken inmate Phil Chaney (Tim Roth) during his dental check up, Chaney secretly slips her a note asking if she would see him during visiting hours. With a total disregard for prison regulations, Rachel appears during Phil’s visiting hours and the two become familiar. Rachel perilously begins a roller coaster of an affair with Phil, taking full advantage of his weekly day-release to attend computer classes, and together they consummate their passion.

Rachel later becomes curious to find out what crime her new lover has committed that led to his imprisonment, and is horrified when she discovers he was jailed for killing his girlfriend. Meanwhile, menacing Towler (Colin Salmon), the prison drug kingpin has learnt of their illicit affair and threatens to ruin both Rachel's medical reputation and Philip's hopes for parole unless she agrees to smuggle him a package into the prison. Rachel learns that she is to bring a gun to Towler and changes her mind, but she finds herself a target in a shoot-out when Towler’s associates track her and Phil down.

Captives is an atmospheric debut feature from BBC television director Angela Pope, Julia Ormond is truly tender in her performance as the betrayed dentist, while Tim Roth is superb as the hard-bitten yet sensitive convict. The two highly skilled actors performances make seeing this character-driven film well worthwhile.