The movie is told in a non-linear time jumbo. Sylvia (Charlize Theron) runs a high class restaurant with friend Laura (Robin Tunney). She is emotionally damaged and has non-committal sex with strangers. Her boyfriend John (John Corbett) is furious. She gets a ride from Carlos. Carlos has been looking for her but he doesn't speak English. He has brought her abandoned daughter Maria. In a desert New Mexico town, Gina (Kim Basinger) is having an affair with Nick Martinez (Joaquim de Almeida). Her daughter Mariana (Jennifer Lawrence) finds out and their love-nest trailer explodes in flames killing both. Mariana and Nick's son Carlos (José María Yazpik) begin a relationship.
The time jumbo doesn't help the lack of tension. Sylvia's nihilist existence has some intrigue but the jumping around highlights the search for connections between the different periods more than advance the character study. There is a mystery twist but that requires Theron and Lawrence to be the same. It's not a failure but it is a stretch. I doubt she got plastic surgery. The story may be more compelling told in a straight forward timeline.
The time jumbo doesn't help the lack of tension. Sylvia's nihilist existence has some intrigue but the jumping around highlights the search for connections between the different periods more than advance the character study. There is a mystery twist but that requires Theron and Lawrence to be the same. It's not a failure but it is a stretch. I doubt she got plastic surgery. The story may be more compelling told in a straight forward timeline.