Restraint 2008

Two fugitives from justice, Dale Teresa Palmer and Ron Travis Fimmel, seize hostages including Andrew Stephen Moyer, an agoraphobic art dealer who might have a dark past, and drag them into a brutal game of survival. From the outset, the trio’s tense arrangement strains under Ron’s volatility as he threatens the art dealer, while Dale tries to keep the situation from spiraling out of control.

Before the chase truly begins, Ron has killed Dale’s boss, the owner of a strip club. On the run, the couple also kills a gas station attendant who glimpses the body in their car’s trunk. Their path leads them to Andrew’s expansive country estate, where they plan to hole up until the search subsides. Ron’s ruthless edge tests Dale, and she steps in to intervene as danger escalates. Desperate to secure their escape, Andrew offers AU 40,000 dollars and valuable jewelry, but someone must venture to the bank to retrieve the goods. Andrew suggests Dale go, posing as his fiancée, Gabrielle Alyssa McClelland, and Dale drives to town, entering the bank twice without arousing suspicion.

While Dale is away, Andrew hints at Gabrielle’s betrayal—she had left him after an affair with his father and was paid to leave, and he had since hired a hit man to kill the father. To coerce Ron into backing off, he shows a photo that supposedly proves the murder. In a bid to protect himself, Andrew manages to lock Ron in a cellar, but Ron manages to escape and regain the upper hand. Dale returns, and the couple prepares to leave, yet Ron makes another deadly push. Dale, who has been drawn to Andrew’s world, grabs a shotgun and fires at Ron—unaware that the gun is unloaded. Ron knocks Dale unconscious and leaves her locked in a car filling with exhaust, goading Andrew to confront his agoraphobia to save her.

Andrew manages a rescue, wounds Ron, and Dale comes to life, delivering a final, fatal blow to Ron. With Ron gone, Andrew moves to call the police, but Dale halts him by resuming Gabrielle’s persona and, at Andrew’s urging, speaking to him in Gabrielle’s voice to confess her love. They then have sex—again, with Dale coached to speak in Gabrielle’s voice. Afterward, Dale asks what would happen if Gabrielle returned while she’s impersonating her; Andrew reassures her that Gabrielle is “gone,” even as the film hints he may have killed her by burning Gabrielle’s passport. The final mood lingers on Andrew playing Wagner downstairs, while Dale gazes out the top-floor window, leaving their precarious bond and ambiguous fate unresolved.