Double Jeopardy (1999)
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A woman wrongly convicted of murdering her husband discovers he is actually alive and begins a desperate quest to find him and their son.
The story
In 1993, wealthy residents Libby and Nick Parsons live an idyllic life in the Pacific Northwest. During a weekend trip on a sailboat, Libby is found on deck with a bloody knife, while Nick is missing. Although his body is never found, Libby is convicted of murder and sentenced to prison. While incarcerated, she learns from a fellow inmate that she could potentially kill Nick again without being prosecuted for the same crime due to the Double Jeopardy Clause. After years of imprisonment, Libby is paroled and begins a determined journey to find the truth about her husband's fate and reclaim her son.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
After being paroled, Libby tracks down her former friend and eventually discovers that Nick is alive and living under an alias in New Orleans. She tracks him through a series of clues involving a collection of Kandinsky paintings. She eventually confronts him at a hotel, where they strike a deal for her to get her son, Matty, in exchange for her silence. However, the situation escalates when a parole officer, Travis Lehman, becomes involved. After a tense confrontation at a cemetery where Nick attempts to trap her, Libby and Lehman eventually corner Nick at his hotel. After a struggle in which Nick is wounded, Libby shoots and kills him. She and Lehman then travel to a boarding school to reunite with her son.
- First release year
- 1999
- Runtime (minutes)
- 105
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Bruce Beresford
- Writers
- David Weisberg · writer; Douglas Cook · writer
- Cast and characters
- Tommy Lee Jones · Nick Parsons; Ashley Judd · Libby Parsons; Bruce Greenwood · Nick Parsons; Annabeth Gish
- Genres
- crime thriller; legal thriller; psychological thriller
- Themes
- revenge; miscarriage of justice
- Tone and mood
- thriller
- Premise and plot tags
- women in prison; legal thriller
- Reception
- The film received mixed reviews from critics and was described as a well-acted diversion with an intelligent grasp of emotion.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 28% · scale: approval rating · review count: 87; Metacritic · score: 40 · scale: 100 · review count: 30
- Awards and nominations
- Favorite Actress · Blockbuster Entertainment Awards · 6th · win
- Production trivia
- The film was produced for $40 million and grossed $177.8 million.; The script was rewritten by Robert Benton.; The film was shot between July and October 1998.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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