Inspired by True Events
The words “Inspired by True Events” can invoke a groan in audience members as they realize what they’re about to see is an overexaggeration of true events. Sometimes, in an attempt to create tension and entertainment, events are amped up creating an event that’s truly too wild to be true. This Tempting Madness (2026) turns this expectation around, offering a true story that is thrilling and surprising while being pretty true to the events it was inspired by.
Our protagonist is Mia (Simone Ashley) who is having a really bad day. When we meet her, she’s hurtling towards the ground and hitting obstacles along the way before being saved (debatable) by a safety net. We travel to the hospital with Maya where we meet her family (most notably her brother Ajay played by Suraj Sharma), and learn her beloved husband Jake (Austin Stowell) has been taken into custody under suspicion it was him who pushed Mia to her doom.
Mia doesn’t have time to deal with that, she’s trying to remember what happened, remember who she is, where she is and why she’s there. This Tempting Madness is an exploration into Mia’s journey towards the truth. No matter how (clinically) insane it may be. After the incident and recovery, the film thrusts Mia and the viewers into a sort of darkness. We don’t know what’s going on, we don’t know who pushed us. All we know is some of our closest loved ones are keeping secrets. The paranoia sends Mia into a spiral and soon she’s losing time as she puts her daughter’s life in danger.
Setting the Scene
She’s looking for a win, and decides to try and help Jake prove his innocence. Naturally it only leads to her questioning her own sanity and making even more unenviable choices. Ashley is a blossoming actress who is successfully – if not slowly – transitioning from young adult star to full on adult. Although she received mainstream recognition in the Netflix original series Sex Education (2020), many know her from her stint on Netflix’s Bridgerton (2022) as Kathani Sharma, the love interest for Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey). The role showed she was more than just talk and viewers were excited to see her move to the big screen.
After her disappointing omission from F1: The Movie (2025) and her more decorative role in The Devil Wears Prada 2 (2026), it was clear that Ashley needed a role to show off her acting chops again. I assert that her role in The Devil Wears Prada 2 could have been named “woman who looks amazing in couture” and she did. But I know she’s capable of delivering more and This Tempting Madness reveals even more of her talent. Yes, there is a significant portion of the film dedicated to Ashley looking gorgeous (and she did), but she was also able to give amazing dramatic and action performances in this taut thriller.
Ashley is the perfect audience mirror, showing our growing fear, paranoia and distrust. Mia feels caught between two worlds, like there’s a part of herself she just can’t access and part of her isn’t sure she wants to. As Mia retraces the events that lead to the incident, there are so many red flags she’s forced to reconcile with. From Jake losing/quitting his job and moving their family from New York to Los Angeles to him monitoring the helicopters because they might be listening in on their calls. There’s an underlying message about women putting men’s needs ahead of their own and shouldering their emotional labor, sometimes to their own self-detriment. Nothing is overtly mentioned, but I can imagine that every woman watching will see something familiar in Mia’s behavior.
I can imagine that every woman watching will see something familiar in Mia’s behavior.
Final Thoughts
The film was based on true events, after all. Montgomery’s best friend was the subject in a tale that is too true to be fake. There were some dramatic elements added, but ultimately Montgomery stayed very close to the story as it was recounted and as she remembered from her own interactions with her “Mia”. Months after returning home “Mia” asked if Montgomery was going to write about the incident. It hadn’t crossed her mind until “Mia” expressed her desire for it to be recounted, if only as a warning for others. Montgomery and Davis could have just made a True Crime documentary, but they knew they wanted to create a film where the viewer felt like they were in Mia’s mind – fractured as it was.
To make in the style of true crime requires a villain and a hero. But what happens when our protagonist might be both? So many films take shortcuts that can underestimate the audience and This Tempting Madness offers the audience a complex look into a complex situation and lets the viewers decide where to place the blame.
Where This Tempting Madness excels is creating the environment that sells the premise. This Tempting Madness is director Jennifer E. Montgomery’s debut feature. She wrote and collaborated with her partner Andrew Davis who also served as cinematographer. The decisions made for lighting and sound design both set the film above standard fare. Ashley creates a duality within Mia as we see her try to understand the parts of her life she simply can’t remember.
The film production (including production design) supports this by subtly assigning color motifs to our main characters. It tells their story visually before we experience who they are. There are also curved, oval, looped and circular elements that were created by a vintage Panavision H-Series lens. This gave a look to the film that was slightly off-kilter and just warped enough to cause unease.
The sound design adds intentional tension and is definitely a successful part of This Tempting Madness. Ashley’s voice was used with a custom instrument to create notes and scales. Those notes were then used to emphasize the score as specific plot points. It’s haunting, it’s charged and provides the perfect disassembling of nerves.
This Tempting Madness skates the fine line between psychological thriller and action film. It is a homerun of great and interesting characters, solid and grounded performances and excellent film craftsmanship. Be sure to check out the film where the truth is indeed stranger than fiction.
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