Hardly salacious as advertised

Rating: Null/10 (15 July 2011)

In the modern-day Deep South, Rae (Christina Ricci) is a young white woman with a very low sense of self-worth. When her young man Ronnie (Justin Timberlake) goes away to join up, Ronnie throws herself into a non-stop round of indiscriminate sex with anyone who can be bothered to take the time. This leads to her getting thoroughly beaten and left for dead in the road, where she is found by Lazarus (Samuel L Jackson). Lazarus tends her health but, when she throws herself sexually at him, he chains her to a radiator to prevent her leaving, with a view to healing her spiritually as well as physically.
I sometimes wonder what the trailer-making industry thinks it is doing. The promotion of this movie portrays it in the most salacious light, yet that is far from what it is about. To be sure, it is necessary to learn how damaged Rae is and the form that damage takes so that we can understand the journey Lazarus takes her (and Ronnie) on. But that journey is convincing, moving, difficult, uplifting, and not salacious in the least.
All three main performers are wonderful, and all are playing somewhat against type. This film is not glib, and it isn't easy, but it is real.
Thoroughly recommended.