From Spanish director, Oriol Paulo, who gave us El Cuerpo in 2012, comes another intense thriller, ‘The Invisible Guest’, a tale of betrayal, adultery, murder and coverups. A with El Cuerpo, the plot unfolds in flashbacks.

Celebrity entrepreneur, husband and father, Adrián Doria (Mario Casas) stands accused of murdering his former mistress Laura (Bárbara Lennie). While the lovers were sharing a room at a remote hotel, an unseen assailant had let himself in, knocked Doria unconscious and then murdered a frightened Laura. At the behest of his personal attorney, Félix (Francesc Orella ), veteran criminal lawyer Virgina Godman (Blanca Martínez) has agreed to defend him.

Virginia arrives at Adrian’s apartment. Making it clear that she is a no-nonsense professional, she tells Doria that she has three hours to come up with his defense and that it is imperative that he is honest with her. So Adam begins his narration of past events.

A few weeks earlier, under the pretense of visiting Paris for a business trip, Adrian is on a clandestine tryst with Laura in a cabin. On the day of their departure, the couple oversleep, delaying their time of departure. As they make their return trip, they decide to take a detour, so that they can make it back earlier. The couple are distracted in their discussion of the future of their illicit relationship, when a deer suddenly appears in front of their car. To avoid the animal, Adrian swerves his BMW away, colliding with a car in the opposite lane. Upon impact, the other car comes to a screeching halt, on the side of the road

The couple stop the car and Laura inspects the other car and discovers that the young man who was driving the car is dead. Just then, another car approaches and quick thinking Laura takes charge, telling Adrian to play along with her plan.

As the driver stops, Laura pretends to be the driver of the other car and the couple pretend to be exchanging insurance information after the accident. The other driver seems to buy their performance and leaves. Laura and Adrian quickly make plans to cover their tracks.

Adrian, tasked with getting rid of the young man’s car, dumps it in a lake, while Laura remains in her car, after summoning a tow truck. An elderly man Tomás(José Coronado) , driving a truck approaches the scene and accosts Laura. Claiming that the car is hers, Laura tells him that she has hit a deer and that she waiting for a tow truck. Claiming to be an engineer who worked in a Spanish BMW service center, and that he understands their workings.

Tomas tows Adrian’s car, as he drives Laura to his house. At Tomas’s home, Laura is introduced to Elvira, Tomas’s wife who invites her inside. As Tomas fixes Adrian’s car, Laura is shocked to discover that the young deceased driver is Daniel, the son of Tomas and Laura. Elvira is growing concerned that she cannot track Daniel, who left their house earlier.

After Tomas fixes Adrian’s car, Laura drives away and reconvenes with Adrian who has sent her is location through his phone. I must say that Spain must have a great wifi network that seems to work even in remote, wooded and sparsely populated regions.

Tomas grows suspicious when Laura adjusts the driver’s seat of her car, just before leaving that contradicts her earlier claim that it was her car. He gives the police the car’s plate number, and soon, the car is found to be under Adrian’s name. When Adrian is made aware of this, he confronts Laura, who reveals that she has stolen Daniel’s ID after the accident and has used it to hack into Daniel’s bank account. and embezzled his funds. Laura threatens to expose Adrian, if she is implicated.

At a public event, Tomas accosts Adrian and begs the latter to reveal the location of Daniel’s corpse, as he, tomas is sure that Daniel is no more.

Back in the present, Virginia suggests that it could be Tomas who could have been the blackmailer, who later murdered Laura. The plot then moves to a shocking climax after a series of twists and shocking revelations. Can Virginia come up with a defense of Adrian? Is Tomas the vengeful father, who is responsible for Laura’s violent death? Is Adrian being totally honest with her, or is he hiding more secrets? Is the blackmailer the driver who passed the accident scene? All of these questions are answered in the rest of the plot.

‘The Invisible Guest’ is a riveting watch from start to finish. The entire cast puts in great performances, among which José Coronado’s acting as Tomas, is particularly noteworthy. Blanca Martinez also excels as the tough Virgina Godman. Those who have seen director Paulo’s previous movies El Cuerpo, will realize, that despite having a different plot, its message is almost the same as the message of ‘The Invisible Guest’. I will not elaborate further, as this may reveal the identity of the murderer.

‘The invisible guest has good cinematography and is an intense thriller, and makes a great one-time watch. The movie and its plot line have impressed other movie makers, particularly in Asia. It has been remade in Chinese, Korean and in three Indian languages, Hindi, Telugu and Kannada. Personally I would just stick to the original.