No Reason to Exist

Rating: Null/10 (18 January 2009)

There's a scene in this where the man confesses to an affair and the woman asks why he told. Puzzled, he explains why he had the affair.
No, Kate's character asks, why tell me? What did you expect to happen? How did you expect to affect me?
By then I was well into wondering why this movie was made. What did they think would happen? What did they expect to change in us?
I ask because I use films in building a life, examining a self, exploring a mindworld. But I just could not see how this could be used for any of those purposes.
It has one of my most valued performers, Kate. Her strength is in characters whose presentation she can comment on in the performance. Here, she is clearly trying to stretch into playing the precise opposite, a character that has NO external view, in fact no introspection at all. Its an interesting story what an actor believes acting is all about, but not enough to create real value.
Unlike "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" this does not reveal a soul. It does not "study" a character. Like "Woolf" it has actorly pyrotechnics, but without the intended value, its nothing but a circus act, to show that something hard can indeed be done. It is deliberate I think, a film that you cannot find a purpose for about a life that is the same.
It is interesting however as another example of husbands directing women they are in love with. Its an interesting kind of lovemaking, with several public and more private channels, some artistic intent subsumed by engagement. Its what I would want. Its what this character lacks.
Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.