Sensational adaption of a scandal novel

Rating: 8/10 (1 January 2015)

Enter fabulous Patrick Bateman, successful Wall Street broker and nowadays embodiment of evil not only for his job, which is held in rather low regard these days, but for the things he does at night. It takes an actor as brilliant as Christian Bale to deliver a believable impersonation of a handsome powerful womanizer who ruthlessly indulges his darkest desires. Of course, some may see this movie as problematic because the viewer is forced into the perspective of a psychopathic serial killer who is simply too shining, too smooth, too perfect to be caught for his heinous crimes. Bateman can hardly be someone you sympathize with but then you are made to feel his abysmal desperation and his escapist fantasies. The horrendous ambiguity of the main character may be the overarching theme of this movie – in the end, we are left to guess whether the atrocious acts of violence took place in reality or merely in the mind of a seriously deranged personality.
There are two main interpretations for the riddle this movie constitutes: 1. In the first interpretation, Bateman really is the incarnation of Norman Bates and yes, he has pornographic sex with prostitutes before he slaughters them. Being probably slightly aware of the evil he is doing, he rarely lets go of a chance to confess to his crimes that reveal his true character. Remember the scene when he tells drunken Paul Allen in this Mexican restaurant that he likes to dissect women and that he was "utterly insane"? But as so often, his fellow human beings ignore his confessions; it is as though they were unable to face the truth. They rely on their fixed image that they have of Bateman as an attractive successful CEO who can buy anything he wants. The power he has makes him intangible for the authorities. Then there is also room for the interpretation that they confuse the identities of one another because some of them have exactly the same job and they look very much alike. This hands Bateman a perfect alibi for his murder of Paul Allen and so Bateman even escapes the tricky interrogations with the private detective, played by Willem Dafoe. In a metaphorical reading, Wall Street is turned into a hotbed of moral corruption in which only surfaces and material values matter. A man as intelligent as Bateman has no difficulties at maintaining the false image he stands for but what is more horrifying is that no one cares who he really is. There are no borders set for him, neither by the law nor by common conventions. In this reading we can see Bret Easton Ellis's intention of crafting a jarring satire on the condition of American society in the 1980s, which is marked off by its superlative dark humor. 2. In the second interpretation, Bateman is a serial killer in his mind only. The terrible aggressions that he seems to harbor are unleashed in his bloody visions which are growing more and more intense. Possibly owing to high medications and a psychosis, Bateman thinks he really does the things he only dreams of or envisions. Thus, in the somewhat weird ending he is utterly desperate and close to madness when he learns that his lawyer ate dinner with a colleague he believes to have murdered long ago. I think the direction of Mary Harron suggests that the second interpretation is more likely. Take for example the scene before the ending when Bateman's secretary spies on his notebook and discovers all the gory drawings of his, thereby also seeing the real character of Bateman behind the surface.
Being what it is, "American Psycho" is one of the most misunderstood movies of film history. This is not a slasher flick that puts a lot of gratuitous violence on display. But it still has elements of a horror movie in it. It is not so much meant to shock than to make the audience think about what they've just seen. It's a dark satire that works seemingly adverse elements of various genres into a whole and it is a testimony to the greatness of Christian Bale, who renders the range of all possible emotions visible and manages one of the most controversial figures of modern cinema.