Perfect Strangers (2016 film)

On the evening of a total eclipse of the moon, seven close friends gather for a dinner party. Early in the meal, one of the friends, a relationship therapist named Eva, says that she is convinced that many couples would separate if they saw the messages on each others' phones. As the friends debate this contention, they agree - some of them reluctantly - to play a game. They will each place their phone on the table and they will share their messages and calls with the rest of the group.

At first the game seems harmless. No one has anything to hide.

But gradually the calls and messages become more compromising. They reveal that one married woman is having an affair; a man who has been pretending to have an absent girlfriend is not who he seems. As the calls continue, the network of lies and secrets becomes increasingly tangled. Almost no one at the table is spared. And by the end of the night, the group’s friendships, marriages, and romances have all been shattered.[6]

Then comes what one reviewer calls ‘the miracle of the movie.’ As the guests leave the apartment, they behave as if nothing untoward has taken place. Each of their relationships is exactly as it was at the start of the evening. The game never happened. The whole film has been a 'what if' scenario - as though the lunar eclipse has transported us to a parallel reality. And we are left to ponder the question of which reality is preferable - the imaginary one in which the stark truth destroys the friends' lives, or the reality in which life goes on, cloaked in deceit.[7]

• Giuseppe Battiston as Peppe[4]
• Anna Foglietta as Carlotta[4]
• Marco Giallini as Rocco[4]
• Edoardo Leo as Cosimo[4]
• Valerio Mastandrea as Lele[4]
• Alba Rohrwacher as Bianca[4]
• Kasia Smutniak as Eva[4]
• Benedetta Porcaroli as Sofia[4]

The film was number-one on its opening week in Italy, with US$3.7 million .[3]

On Rotten Tomatoes it has an approval rating of 77% based on reviews from 13 critics.[8]

• In 15 December 2016, a Greek remake by Greek actor/director Thodoris Atheridis, Τέλειοι Ξένοι (Teleioi Xenoi), was released.
• In 2017, Perfect Strangers was remade by Spanish director Álex de la Iglesia as Perfectos desconocidos.[10][11]
• The Turkish version titled Stranger in My Pocket (Cebimdeki Yabancı) was directed by Serra Yılmaz and released in Turkey on February 2, 2018.[12][13]
• A French-language version of the film, titled Nothing to Hide (Le Jeu, lit. 'The Game'), was directed by Fred Cavayé and released in France in late 2018.[14]
• An unofficial remake of the movie was released in India in 2018 under the title Loudspeaker in Kannada language.[15][16]
• The South Korean remake, Intimate Strangers, was released in South Korea on October 31, 2018.[17]
• The Hungarian remake BÚÉK directed by Krisztina Goda was released on December 6, 2018.[18]
• The Mexican remake Perfectos desconocidos directed by Manolo Caro (creator of The House of Flowers on Netflix) was released in Mexico on December 25, 2018 and the United States on January 11, 2019.[19]
• The Chinese remake, Kill Mobile, was released in the United Kingdom on 28 December 2018,[20] before China on 29 December 2018, and Singapore on 10 January 2019.[21]
• A Russian remake, Loud Connection, created by the Kvartet I, was released on Valentine's Day in 2019.[22]
• In September 2019 the Polish version (Nie)znajomi was released, directed by Tadeusz Sliwa.[23]
• The German remake, Das perfekte Geheimnis, was released on October 31, 2019.[24]
• In 2019, an Armenian remake called Unknown Subscriber (Անհայտ բաժանորդ) was released.[25]
• A Vietnamese remake called Blood Moon Party (Tiệc trăng máu) was released on 23 October 2020.[26]
• A Slovak-Czech remake called Známi neznámi was filmed in July and August 2020 and is slated for release on 26 November 2020.[27]
• A Japanese remake called Otona no Jijō: Sumaho o Nozoitara (おとなの事情 スマホをのぞいたら) was released on 8 January 2021 by Sony Pictures.[28]

As of December 2017, remakes were underway in Qatar and Sweden.[29] In February 2017, The Weinstein Company acquired the rights to an English-language remake.[30] In December 2019, Issa Rae was announced to write and star in the US remake. Rae will produce the film along with Spyglass Media Group, a subsidiary of Lantern Entertainment, which acquired the assets of The Weinstein Company after its bankruptcy.[31] In October 2018, an Arabic-language remake was announced to be developed by companies based in the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Lebanon, respectively.[32]

• Perfect Strangers at IMDb
• Perfect Strangers at Rotten Tomatoes