If John has REALLY loved Elizabeth.....

Warning for length. It was about control...John clearly had psychological issues (fear of intimacy and abandonment, feeling vulnerable etc) and the little bit you do get out of him about his life, you see that the fact he can't sustain a loving relationship, even a kinky normal one, but instead has to be a puppeteer shows that his Dom loner persona is his defense mechanism for his life so he doesn't have to feel his real emotions, those that have scarred him terribly and led him to becoming who he is in the movie. Possibly, most likely stemming from childhood trauma of some sort.

So when he meets Elizabeth, at first she's like just another one of his girls, something fun to pass the time with and to play with, and then IMO he'd drop her like he probably did the others and move on. But what i got from the movie was that she was getting too close and that scared him, he started to feel things for her...as damaged as he was, say a screwed up version of love for her. And the relationship was one of lust and powerplay so to protect himself he'd yank the strings viciously, not just as a D/S to disorient her, but in some twisted way to show her she had no power over him, and i suppose to push her to her limits and his again IMO to test his abandonment and self loathing issues, like "How far can i push you until you leave me" but sadly not only did she have power over him but he pushed her to her limits and there was no going back. That's the tragedy of the movie, underneath the twisted dynamics and kinky games love was there between them.

Albeit A very unhealthy love though, because take the games away and John is too f upped emotionally to have a real relationship with her and Elizabeth is being destroyed by what's already gone down between them. So at the end she'd had too much and she's losing her sanity and has to get out and it's only then when he and the relationship has scarred her is when he opens up out of fear, cause he knows he's lost her so he tells her things...but just little breadcrumbs to get her to stay, in his mind he's giving her enough to keep her but he still gets to keep the power as his armor.

IMO that last scene was genuine and the way Rourke plays John there is like a little boy, lost and vulnerable and i think the way Bassinger plays her part is Elizabeth believing he's telling the truth but knowing he's too damaged to stay with. I think when she leaves at the end and is crying walking home is the movie saying this women is forever changed by John and sadly in the kinky sex games D/S dynamic neither got what they wanted. They both lost. They've ruined each other.

And that's why i like this movie because seeing past all the sex there's a great character study there and the movie really explores the psychology of obsession/addiction self destruction, and dysfunctional love.




In the 'suckfest' sequel you get an even bigger character study for John, After Elizabeth leaves him, even though she's gone she leaves her ghost behind, in fact they both do. The relationship f's them both up so badly that Elizabeth falls into another addiction (Drugs) and dies of an OD and John can't let her go and tries to recapture 9 1/2 weeks with a multitude of women but keeps seeing Elizabeth in them. At one point he hires a leggy blond hooker and calls her Elizabeth during sex, and he goes to Paris and buys all of her art to meet her again.

Apparently it took him forever to swallow his pride and find her. but yeah John's a mess in the crappy sequel, he's depressed and suicidal playing Russian roulette in the dark with himself, again another game. He's lost his passion for what he used to be and Elizabeth's friend who was her confidante and read her diary of them is desperate to be Elizabeth and relive 9 1/2 weeks with John. Yada yada yada sex, kink etc.

John tells Elizabeth's friend that with Elizabeth he was too scared to let her love him and by the end didn't feel good enough for her, he's consumed with guilt and remorse and wants to stop running and stop hurting people. When he learns that Elizabeth is dead he goes to her grave and sobs. In the end he leaves Elizabeth's friend the way Elizabeth left him and the roles are reversed with Elizabeth's friend now saying the John line about counting and he'll come back.

So as crappy as that sequel was I'm glad that you get insight into John as a character compared to only getting the subtext in 9 1/2 weeks for him and leaving him walled up compared to how emotional we see Elizabeth as. John really did love her, as much as he could love someone.

I read the real book 9 1/2 weeks is based on and let's just say Hollywood put their stamp on the movie because in the book you don't get John's vulnerability, quite frankly there's nothing sexy about him or the relationship in the book. In the movie you have two hot people and erotic music, lighting and coupled with those little scenes of vulnerability the movie has a whole different tone to it.

I think all of these comments are valid, but I think John loved Elizabeth in his controlling way. It's the only way he knows how to love. It worked for him for nine and a half weeks, but now he has to find someone more willing to be controlled and probably with love self-esteem.