Damian Hurley’s “Strictly Confidential” (2024) raised eyebrows when its first trailer was released. The erotic thriller promised to feature Elizabeth Hurley (Damian’s mother and a heartthrob in the 90s) in some really raunchy scenes. It was one of the reasons that piqued my interest, too. However, now that I have seen the film, I can safely say that “Strictly Confidential” is nothing more than a Lifetime Channel movie on a slightly bigger budget, including PG-13 sex scenes that don’t even satisfy your horny meter. It has the same kind of murderous plot, the same kind of twisted character interplay, and the same kind of over-the-top and horrendous acting performances. So much so that it might get aggressively difficult for a viewer to keep up, especially with how “Strictly Confidential” leads you to that super-odd ending.
*Spoiler alert*
Strictly Confidential (2024) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
The film takes place almost entirely at the vacation home of Lily (Elizabeth Hurley), somewhere in the Caribbean. She has invited her late daughter Rebecca’s (Lauren McQueen) best friends to her place on the anniversary of her supposed suicide. The group includes Mia (Georgia Lock) – Rebecca’s best friend; James (Freddie Thorp) – Mia’s boyfriend whom she has grown apart from; Will (Max Parker) – Rebecca’s boyfriend; Natasha (Pear Chiravara) – Lily’s secret love affair, and Jemma (Genevieve Gaunt) – Lily’s other daughter and Rebecca’s sister. Lily has asked them to come attend their yearly tradition despite Rebecca’s absence because she thinks that none of them have moved on since Rebecca disappeared a year back into the ocean. She believes that it might help them all get some closure from Rebecca’s death.
All of them feel like they have moved on except Mia. She seems to be visibly distressed and on edge because Rebecca’s final letter was addressed to her, and she believes that something is off about her writing a suicide note. We, as viewers, are shown how twisted everything is when Natasha comes on to Lily, and both of them rekindle their love affair that started long before Lily’s husband, Thomas, died of an apparent suicide by jumping off the cliff near their place. More doubts are seeded when we see that Jemma was also in a sexual relationship with Will, possibly leading her sister to take her own life.
Both of these unsolicited flings are back, even though the weekend was supposed to be about Rebecca and healing. Mia, who hasn’t had a relationship with James for over a year, is also brought in when she gets extremely anxious about seeing a young girl everywhere. She also meets a hot coast guard named Sebastian (Llyrio Boeteng), who listens to her worries about Rebecca’s untimely death.
Who is the little girl?
On one of the days, Mia finally catches up to the little girl she has been seeing. Her name is Amelia (Corbie Cenita), and she leads Mia to her mother, Catherine Issac (Agi Nanjosi) – Rebecca’s therapist. Mia searches through her documents to find a file that has her name on it. Surprised, she steals the file and rushes out in order to find some kind of clue in it, seeing how Rebecca used her name instead of her own for her session. While most of them are vague thoughts including believing in conspiracies and having trouble sleeping, one important revelation on her last visit is her being pregnant. This distresses her even more, and she ends up sleeping with James in need of comfort.
The next morning, she tells James about Rebecca being pregnant. She tells him about her conclusion and proposes that she thinks something is truly off about Rebecca’s death. Seeing James’ expression, we can glean that he is trying to divert Mia’s attention away from discovering things. Later that night, Mia discovers that Rebecca’s mother, Lily, is having an affair with Natasha while Jemma is sleeping with Will. Finding it difficult to believe in anything, she rushes to Sebastian’s place but runs away from there as well upon finding Rebecca’s pendant.
When all of the revelations come crashing down, we get to know that Rebecca knows about both affairs, which distresses Mia as these might be the reasons why her best friend decided to kill herself. Lily then takes her for a walk, where Mia discusses Rebecca’s file with Lily, forcing her to confess about her involvement in Thomas’ death.
Did Lily kill Thomas?
Citing Rebecca’s file and the conspiracy theories her therapist dismissed, Mia questions Lily if she killed Rebecca’s father. This is when Lily confesses that Thomas asked her to come to the cliff that day and had a heated discussion about her affair with Natasha and their daughter Rebecca knowing about it. In a moment of confrontation, Lily tried to push him away from her, but he accidentally fell to his death. While she is telling Mia about all of it, including not going to the police when everyone thought Thomas fell by mistake, Jemma, who had followed them there, starts arguing with Lily. But before anything else can happen, Lily is hit over the head by Rebecca.
Strictly Confidential (2024) Movie Ending Explained:
Who killed Rebecca?
Now, the question is inconsequential at this point because the twisted third act tells us that Rebecca is not dead but alive. She rounds up everyone in the chapel near the hill and starts disclosing everything.
Why did Rebecca mention Mia in her letter?
Firstly, she talks about that day and reveals her pregnancy to her therapist, who suggests she get an abortion because the child is not from her boyfriend, Will. She also suggests that she write a letter to her unborn child, whom she plans to name after her best friend, Mia, in order to feel better about her decision. So basically, the letter that they found later, supposing it to be a suicide note, wasn’t actually meant to be that.
Who was responsible for Rebecca’s disappearance?
Secondly, she mentions how, after writing the letter, she went to the beach to clear her head only to find her mother there. She confronted Lily about knowing of her affair and her father getting upset by it. However, Lily wasn’t the one responsible for her disappearance because after Lily went away, James also came to the beach questioning why Rebecca almost told Mia about their affair. This is where we get to know that Rebecca is pregnant with the child of her best friend’s boyfriend, James, who doesn’t want Mia to know about it.
He claims that he loves Mia and that Rebecca should get rid of the baby. One thing leads to another, and James, who doesn’t want this secret out, chokes Rebecca and throws her into the ocean, assuming that she died. He did not have to worry about the consequences because of the letter that everyone found. After telling everyone the truth, she tells them that she will let the police know about James and Lily, punishing them for their actions. On seeing that there’s no way out of it, James takes Rebecca to the edge of the cliff to kill her for real this time. However, Lily intervenes and pushes him off, diving along with him.
Where had Rebecca been all this while?
The fall essentially kills James, while Lily suffers minor injuries. All of them meet at the hospital, where they learn that Sebastian was the one who saved Rebecca after her body washed up to the shore. This is why he also had her pendant with him. She says she was MIA because she was scared of what James could do to her again. However, she confesses that letting her best friend be in the dark was unforgivable. When Lily wakes up, Mia, Rebecca, and Jemma tell her that they have not alerted the police about her involvement in Thomas’ death since she saved Rebecca from James.
What is the one thing Rebecca wanted to tell Mia before she leaves?
“Strictly Confidential” (2024) ends with Will, Natasha, and Mia leaving the Caribbean island. Rebecca comes to see Mia off, but since Mia is not ready to forgive her friend yet, she goes away without listening to the one thing Rebecca wanted to tell her. As she flies away, she looks at her best friend one last time, only to see her holding little Mia (Rebecca’s daughter) in her hand.
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