The Invisible Guest

The Invisible Guest is about Adrián Doria, a successful businessman, who has been accused of murdering his mistress, as he was found locked inside a hotel room with her corpse. The entirety of the movie consists of Adrian's conversation with his defense attorney, Virginia Goodman, in his apartment as she questions Adrian on what happened and they try to solve the locked room and mount a defense.

This sounds like a clear locked room murder mystery, but The Invisible Guest is far from the movie equivalent of a traditional detective novel. It becomes clear relatively early that this won't be a regular whodunnit, as Adrian and Virginia only briefly touch upon the circumstances of the murder itself and then dive into the months leading up to it.

So... What is The Invisible Guest?

It's not really a whodunnit. As Adrian's backstory comes to light, it becomes clear there's only one person who would have a motive for the murder. Plus, as I already said, the movie is just Adrian and Virginia talking; there's no grand detective to question the suspects and expose their lies.

It's not really a howdunnit. There's a locked room, so of course Adrian and Virginia spend some time theorizing about it, but it's nowhere near a focal point of the film.

It's not really a whydunnit, either. As already discussed, there's only one real suspect, and their would-be motive is exceedingly clear.

So we're back to the question of what it is.

I know the answer, of course. But that answer is the entire point of the movie, and I'm not going to give it away here. So that makes it a bit hard to give the movie a solid classification (without massive spoilers). Maybe the best way to describe The Invisible Guest is that it's a movie about a locked room murder, and yet which is not a locked room murder mystery.

It's not about gathering evidence and picking apart the witness' lies. It's about the human drama and tragedy leading up to the murder, about the tension that mounts and builds up to—a denouement, but not one that involves an eccentric weirdo laying out a series of implausible deductions in front of a line-up of suspects.

The plot is tight and well-crafted. I would describe the movie as clever, but not as brilliant. While the components are put together smartly, none of them have that sheen of genius.

I think it's pretty cool how the plot of the entire film is just two characters having a discussion in a room. Just so I don't cause any misconceptions, we do not merely watch a two-person conversation for two hours; rather than just "telling" us what happened, the movie "shows" us the events Adrian and Virginia are discussing in constant flashbacks. This 'frame story' almost gives the locked room murder the air of a sterile incident from a puzzle plot novel, like it's an intellectual problem to be solved, rather than a crime to be investigated. Of course, as already discussed, that's not the essence of The Invisible Guest. But the narrative structure almost makes it feel like it is.

My ultimate recommendation is that mystery fans should watch The Invisible Guest, as long as the premise doesn't trick them into expecting a Carr novel in cinema form.