Double Jeopardy (1999): A Film Analysis of Beresford's Thriller

Introduction

Double Jeopardy (1999) is a thriller directed by Australian director Bruce Beresford, which stars Ashley Judd as Elizabeth "Libby" Parsons — a woman wrongly accused of murdering her husband — Bruce Greenwood as Nicholas "Nick" Parsons / Simon Ryder / Jonathan Devereaux (Libby's husband), and Tommy Lee Jones as Travis Lehman, a former law professor who serves as Libby's parole officer and eventually helps her reunite with her son, Matty, and clear her name. Beresford's previous directorial successes include the Academy Award–winning Driving Miss Daisy (1989), Black Robe (1991), and Tender Mercies (1984), his first U.S. feature, which earned him his first and only Academy Award nomination for Best Director to date.

Despite these early and critical successes, Double Jeopardy (1999) was critically panned upon release. Roger Ebert (1999) described it as "not a successful thriller, but with some nice dramatic scenes along with the dumb mystery and contrived conclusion." Double Jeopardy (1999) relies heavily on a contrived narrative and the name recognition of its star actors, but fails to highlight Beresford's abilities as a director, resulting in an easily forgettable, generic film.

Storytelling

Double Jeopardy (1999) follows Libby and her ordeal after being framed by her husband, who simultaneously faked his own death, assumed another identity, and abducted her son. Her alleged best friend, Angela Green, played by Annabeth Gish, conspired with Libby's husband to rid themselves of Libby. Nick successfully carries out his plan by disappearing without a trace from the boat he and Libby were on in the middle of the night while Libby slept, and by calling 911 claiming that his wife was attacking him — prompting police to arrive as Libby awoke and was searching for him. As a result of her husband's scheme, Libby was found guilty of murder and sent to prison, where she almost immediately befriended two fellow inmates who provide the emotional and psychological support she needs to survive until her parole and, subsequently, track down her conniving husband.

The narrative unfolds in chronological order over the course of approximately six years, though the exact passage of time is never clearly established. No indication is given of how much time elapsed between Nick's disappearance and the legal determination of his death — particularly since no body was recovered — nor of how long Libby waited for her case to go to trial. The only reference to the six-year timeline comes from a single line of dialogue in which Libby remarks that she cannot believe how long she has been incarcerated (Double Jeopardy, 1999). The film is devoid of literary elements that would generate secondary meaning, nor does it function as an allegory. Its plot is simple in construction, predictable in execution, and rehashes familiar tropes: the mysterious disappearance or death at sea, and the story of an individual wrongfully accused who will stop at nothing to clear their name.

Acting and Characters

The characters in Double Jeopardy (1999) are difficult to find credible — not because they have been miscast or because the actors perform poorly, but because the film fails to demonstrate or emphasize their range. Judd had previously been cast as a strong female lead in Kiss the Girls (1997), in which she played an intern who is kidnapped and must fight for her life. While Beresford may have sought to recapture Judd's ability to portray a resilient woman who fights her oppressor and triumphs, her performance here falls flat because the narrative does not equip her character with the tools necessary to be compelling. Libby is portrayed as a happily married, beautiful woman — until she is not — and inexplicably has everything she needs handed to her. She immediately befriends a former attorney in prison who introduces her to the concept of double jeopardy, and a man who helps her conduct an Internet search on Angela Green without being asked. Moreover, Libby manages to travel from Washington to Colorado to Louisiana with no apparent access to money or the resources required for cross-country travel — particularly remarkable given that she is a fugitive who has violated the conditions of her parole (Double Jeopardy, 1999).

Similarly, Jones appears to have been cast as Lehman largely on the basis of his previous successes playing no-nonsense law enforcement figures in U.S. Marshals (1998) and Men in Black (1997). In Double Jeopardy, Lehman assumes a role similar to those in his prior films: as in U.S. Marshals, Jones is tracking an escaped convicted criminal — though in this case one out on parole — across the country based on the clues she leaves behind, and ultimately helps to restore judicial balance. Although Lehman is supposed to be a conflicted character haunted by his past, his role is too two-dimensional to allow Jones to develop the character meaningfully — to credibly transform from a rigid parole officer into someone who genuinely believes in Libby's innocence.