MovieChat Forums > Nil by Mouth (1998) Discussion > Should director Gary Oldman's NEXT featu...

Should director Gary Oldman's NEXT feature film...


... be a similar story but about a WOMAN domestically abusing a MAN, regardless of whether or not the female is attractive or otherwise, and the devastating effects it has on him, so that this film could be like a mirror opposite story of this directorial debut feature of his?

Considering the fact that some directors have already made films that plot and theme wise are mirror opposites of their other previous works (like, for instance, how Thomas Vinterberg who made "The Celebration" ("Festen") in 1998 that dealt with child abuse later in 2012 made "The Hunt" about a man falsely accused of child abuse), and how certain filmmakers made gender reversal scenes where usually, AND in similar situation, it is either a man who is the perpetrator or a man being a victim of that crime at the hands of another man (remember in that sense Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction" (1994) and then a similar scene in a movie that is in many ways heavily influenced by it, director Skip Woods' "Thursday" (1998) where Thomas Jane was a victim of such situation and look it up to find out at whose hands) or even films where women were guilty of killing men etc, do you think that, especially in this day and age of cinematic creativity, Gary Oldman should make a feature film about a wife domestically abusing her husband, with how the husband is unable to eithe report her or leave her or fight back?

And do you think that if Gary Oldman does it, then his film as such can also be rated as highly or even higher than this (remember, Vinterberg's "Festen" (1998) and "The Hunt" (2012) are BOTH rated VERY highly and are even both in IMDb's top 250 whilst being plot-wise mirror opposites) and also...

Who do you think can play a wife and who can be the husband? And do you think that maybe, she can be physically strong enough to, say, beat him up to the extent of Ray's beating of Val later in the film?

Then again, come to think of it, why not? It isn't exactly all that rare in real life either. And without sounding ANYTHING, at least not INTENTIONALLY, like pro or anti SJW, MRA (whether Mens Rights Activists OR Moral Relativity is Absolute) or feminist, but JUST being a normal self (HUMAN BEING), I bet the reason they don't always fight back and win ISN'T ONLY due to the fact that they are afraid of getting into trouble with the law or are weak and totally vulnerable but... Sometimes it may JUST happen - and entail consequences, right?

Heck - on a slightly different yet similar note - remember how in "GoldenEye" (1995) for instance James Bond's character that previously somewhat effortlessly took on over a hunred man had struggles when fighting with Famke Jansenn's Xenia Onatopp character? What was SHE much stronger than a hundred men physically - like in that Toto song "Africa"?

Any more ideas, thanks!

P.S. We could maybe get Charlotte Gainsbourg to play the abusive wife? I mean, if you've seen her in "Antichrist" (2009) as well as Lars von Trier's other two films - "Nymphomaniac" volumes 1 + 2, you would realize she surely can play a strong character who can be both a victim and a perpetrator, sometimes even both at once, and have the convincing enough quality to pull of THIS type of role needed for Gary Oldman's next feature.

The greatest trick the Devil has ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist!

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