SPOILER WARNING:
I thought this was a phenomenal film. Maria Bello gave a courageous and raw performance.
I agree it's a great character study of a woman so tormented by her past that she cannot get through the day without self-harming. Finally she has enough and wants it all to end.
Why she doesn't kill herself is a mystery, but she gets so involved communicating with anonymous men over the internet that maybe the thrill of finding someone else who is into extreme S&M keeps her going. We get the feeling that she has been searching for the right man who will go all the way and kill her at the end of their S&M games, but so far she's only found men who just want to engage in the S&M part.
Until she meets Louis; he promises her he will end it for her. He is just as screwed up as Nancy, but he is the sadist whereas she is the masochist (she'd have to be, staying in a 15-year marriage to the non-responsive Albert).
The three main characters are all dysfunctional in their own ways--Nancy's past is so traumatic that she self-harms; Louis' wife has left with their two children (it's not clear if he's been engaging in S&M since they left or has always been); and Albert, while successful at work, is repressed and barely emotional at home.
The film was definitely disturbing and heart-wrenching. Nancy's story of abuse at the hands of her uncle and her subsequent suffering was difficult to watch. But the honesty with which this character was written and acted was breath-taking. The scenes with Nancy and her therapist were raw and believable.
When films like this don't get a wide audience it's a real shame because there are so many people who suffer with traumatic abuse, and their stories are just as valid as anyone else's.
It seems suicide is still a taboo issue. If this story would have been sensationalized (like Black Swan), maybe it would have done better. It's okay to have Natalie Portman's character in Black Swan slowly losing her mind, as long as it's couched within the art world, and no one ever discusses what's happening to her.
But show a character like Nancy discussing death with her therapist or begging someone to kill her and straight to video it goes.
"Fasten your seat belts. It's going to be a bumpy night."
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