Disturbing and pessimistic

Rating: 7/10 (12 September 2005)

I found this movie difficult to watch because of its content. It was based on a play and even though I didn't know that before I saw it, I realised immediately because of the quality of the dialogue and the lack of reality in the situations. As in some plays, I felt that the author was experimenting with human relationships, to see how extreme he could make them. At the start, I felt I could understand what was happening in the relationships, but as the movie progressed, some of the things that happened were so implausible that I found it hard to remain interested. Having studied relationships in real life, I wasn't shocked by the language or what the characters did, I just found it unbelievable.
It works as a study in how people can behave and interact, but not as a reflection of a reality that I have experienced. There was no sense of real love or genuine caring there, the partner switching happened too quickly, none of the characters won my sympathy and in the end, I didn't care what happened to them. The best thing I can say about it is that at the end, I felt really glad to be me, because my life is so much better than theirs (whatever I might feel about it the rest of the time). However, the performances were great, especially Natalie Portman and Clive Owen.