Before I Go to Sleep

Christine reads the entry for Friday, November 23. During dinner on this day, Christine tells Ben that she has been writing a journal. Irate, Ben demands to see it, but Christine says it is private. Christine reveals that she knows an assault caused her amnesia, but Ben pretends not to know what she is talking about. When Christine explains that she has been seeing Dr. Nash and had an MRI scan, he hurls misogynistic abuse at her. Accusing Christine of having an affair with Dr. Nash, Ben hits her in the face. Christine tries to calm Ben, telling him she read the letter he wrote when he started divorce proceedings. Ben punches Christine in the head and continues to assault her as she lies on the floor. He walks out, leaving Christine on the floor near his shattered dinner plate. When Ben leaves the house, Christine locks herself in the bathroom to write her journal. She is crying, and her face is bleeding.

Breaking off from reading the journal entry, Christine examines the fading bruise on her head, realizing it is evidence. She hears Ben’s key in the door and hides the journal pages under her pillow. Ben presents Christine with a bottle of sparkling wine, kisses her, and says he will take a shower. While he is in the bathroom, Christine starts reading the rest of her entry for November 23. After writing her journal, Christine unsuccessfully tried to call Claire and Dr. Nash.

Christine reads the entry for November 26. The journal describes how Ben explains Christine’s injuries by claiming she had a fall. Christine believes him until she reads her journal and learns the truth. She decides to write “DON’T TRUST BEN” in the front of her journal but sees she has already done so.

After Ben leaves for work, Christine calls Claire revealing that Ben has hit her. Claire sounds doubtful, reminding Christine that Ben is so gentle that he refuses to eat meat. Christine is confused, remembering the meat on Ben’s plate the night he hit her. Claire insists she will call Ben and is surprised when she learns where he works.

Claire calls Christine back, having called Ben’s workplace. She reveals that Ben trained as an architect, so it seemed strange that he was teaching chemistry. When she spoke to the school secretary, she learned that Ben was not a teacher but a lab assistant. Christine feels guilty, assuming that the burden of caring for her led Ben to take a less demanding job. She tells Claire that Ben has coped with a great deal, as he cannot share his grief over Adam. Shocked, Claire tells Christine that Adam is alive and was never a Royal Marine. He works in computing and lives with his girlfriend, Helen, in Birmingham. Claire says that the newspaper clipping must have been faked.

Alarmed, Claire says she will come to the house and support Christine when Ben returns from work. She then asks if Ben has a scar down one cheek. Christine says no, just as she hears Ben return home. Claire tells Christine that the man she is living with is not Ben.

Shutting herself in the bathroom, Christine asks Claire to fetch her the next day when Ben is at work. She promises to call her friend when it is safe to arrive. Claire reminds Christine to write in her journal, so she does not forget.

In the hotel room, Christine realizes that this is where the journal ends. She assumes that Ben found the journal and removed the pages that described the assault. Claire failed to rescue her, and by the time Dr. Nash collected the journal, Christine had forgotten everything.

Ben emerges from the bathroom, catching Christine with the journal pages. When Christine demands to know who he is, he insists that he is her husband, Ben, showing her photographs as proof. However, he cannot produce a photograph with him and Adam together. Christine realizes that, whoever she is with, he is not Adam’s father. Recalling an image of the man with the scarred cheek, she remembers that he is the real Ben.

The imposter tells Christine to forget about Adam and Ben and focus on their love for each other. He reminisces about how he watched Christine in a café and posed as a customer so he could talk to her. He describes how their friendship turned into an affair. Christine remembers that the imposter’s name is Mike. She recalls kissing him and telling him he must leave before Ben’s return. Mike is delighted that Christine has remembered his real name. He claims that Ben and Adam abandoned her while he continued to love her, even after she ended their affair. Horrified, Christine realizes it was Mike who attacked her. She recalls ending their affair when Mike’s behavior became obsessive, and she realized she still loved Ben.

Christine screams, but her voice is barely audible above the loud music from the bar next door. Mike covers her mouth and bangs her head against a radiator. He describes how he always watched over her and sometimes visited her in the hospital, claiming to be someone else. After Ben divorced Christine, he waited until there was no staff on duty at Waring House who knew the real Ben. He then came to get Christine, claiming to be her husband.

Determined to escape, Christine fakes gratitude to Mike. She asks him to let her go so they can plan their future. However, Mike points out that their future is ruined as Claire knows he is an imposter. Becoming angry, he shakes Christine and hits her when she mistakenly calls him Ben. Mike says he brought Christine to Brighton because he is tired of posing as Ben and wants Christine to love him for who he is.

Christine hits Mike across the face. As he topples, he lets go of her, and she runs for the door. Mike grabs Christine’s ankle, and she loses her balance, hitting her head on the dressing table stool. Mike continues the assault, telling Christine she cannot escape as she has no one else to help her and no memory. Christine cries at the truth of this, realizing that if she lives, she will have forgotten everything that happened tomorrow. Grabbing the stool, she strikes Mike on the head with it. Christine stands, but Mike clings to her, begging her not to leave.

Suddenly Christine remembers the night of the attack. Pretending to be Ben, Mike sent a typewritten note saying he had booked a romantic weekend away. When Mike arrived at the hotel instead of Ben, Christine told him she was going home to her husband and son.

Christine shouts for help, and Mike launches at her, throwing her backward. She lands on the bathroom floor, and Mike begins to throttle her. Struggling to breathe, Christine remembers Mike holding her head under the bathwater and accusing her of taking his child from him. Christine realizes she was pregnant with Ben’s child at the time, but the baby did not survive the attack.

Christine loses consciousness, waking a few hours later, bound and gagged. Mike suggests a joint suicide pact and is disappointed when Christine shakes her head. Holding up Christine’s journal, he says he will destroy it, and then Christine can tell Claire and Dr. Nash that she imagined everything.

Mike puts the journal in the trash bin and adds a lighted match. Lunging forward, Christine knocks the burning journal onto the floor. Mike tries to extinguish the flames, but the bedding catches fire behind him. Unable to move, Christine lies on the floor, resigning herself to death. Before losing consciousness, she thinks about Adam and remembers meeting Ben at the student party.

Christine wakes in an ambulance with Claire at her side. She notices that Claire is wearing the same earrings she had on the last time they met. Claire reveals that Mike is dead. A young man steps forward and calls Christine “mum.” Christine hugs Adam, who tells her that Ben is on his way.

In the hospital, Christine sees the real Ben, who has flown back from Italy, where he was working. He tells Christine that he still loves her and, when she is better, he wants them to live as a couple. Dr. Nash and Claire are also at the hospital. Christine learns that Claire was worried when she failed to call her but did not know Christine’s address. Claire alerted Adam and eventually got hold of Dr. Nash. Claire and Dr. Nash went to Christine’s house, but she had already left for Brighton. Dr. Nash guessed her destination as Christine had already told him she was going to the coast.

Christine accuses Dr. Nash of telling her Adam was dead. Dr. Nash explains that he believed this was true, as Christine had told him this in a previous session. Reassured, Christine reveals that she can now remember things not written in her journal. Dr. Nash seems doubtful that Christine is cured. However, he admits the possibility that emotional trauma could have contributed to Christine’s memory loss, and a second traumatic attack could have reversed it. Dr. Nash says Christine should prepare herself for the possibility that she will not remember anything tomorrow. Christine can now recall her entire married life. She whispers to Ben that she loves him before falling asleep.