Very disappointing


I just watched this and was not impressed.

I very much wanted to like it, because the trailer and poster were beautiful and I'm a huge fan of both Eddie Marsan and Romola Garai. I did greatly enjoy both of their performances, but that was about it. I found the film to be self-conscious and pompous - see, for example, the overblown sequence in which Lynette does the self-defense moves and Frank wanders around being reflective, complete with tinkly thoughtful music and flashbacks.

I also found the dialogue dull and cliched - there was nothing original or moving about the way Lynette and Frank interacted and as such I found it hard to buy into their quick and secure bond.

"In return for what?" "In return for nothing," was probably supposed to put a lump in my throat. But it's just not that poignant when it's been done so very many times. And by the time they were hammering the point home with her hand on his leg and "You don't have to do that" and the jacket round her shoulders to punctuate it? I was just irritated.

Frank saying to himself "Soft in the head you are," and Lynette overhearing and saying "You know that's the first sign of madness - talking to youself," is another example of a bit of dialogue that was highly cliched and devoid of any real sweetness as a result.

I also found the film to be highly contrived - the entire set-up for the central relationship was improbable, and Frank's Highly Meaningful Conversation with the down and out vet had me rolling my eyes. Perhaps worst of all was the ending. I saw it coming the minute we saw the little girl's room Lynette was going to be staying in - but just in case I didn't they chucked in some Very Important Dialogue shortly after about his daughter and how he should find her. It was very clear how Christine's storyline was going to tie in, and I can't say that the banal way they were reunited and the cop-out non-exploration of their relationship made it any more interesting. And really, the heavy-handedness of the parallel between his relationship with Lynette and his relationship with his absent daughter was unforgivable. I physically cringed when Frank actually said "Yeah? Well now I've found you!" Marsan did his best with the delivery but the line was just embarrassing and totally unnecessary.

I might have found the film enjoyable despite these things if all the performances had been as good. Unfortunately I found Reid's performance to be mannered and charmless. The boy playing her cliche of a love interest/abuser was suitably repulsive, but in a way that was difficult to find entertaining.

Probably the best part of the movie was "But the taxi was... it... broke." I was really interested to learn more about who Christine was, and felt that the film was too heavily weighted towards her father's inner life and pretty much left her out in the cold. She was a prop for him, not her own character. The only reason that wasn't more irritating while watching than it was on reflection is that Garai is one of those rare performers who can create interest equivalent to ten lines of dialogue just with a look on her face.

The other part of the film that I thought was really well done was the flashback to Frank's past trauma. "Wardrobe" was particularly chilling and miserable - even more so given the reveal that he was not a victim, but the perpetrator.

Overall, a very ordinary film trying as hard as it can to be extraordinary. I wouldn't say the director was without talent, but I was not impressed with the writing at all.

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The writing ultimately let the film down, the script was not original.

Its that man again!!

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I do understand all the points OP makes, and given that was the way it came across to you, I can fully understand your disappointment in the film.

For me though, your reaction seems pretty harsh. I'm under no illusion that this was a classic in any way, but where you read the dialogue as being flat and unengaging, I took a lot of that to be an expression of the way Frank's life had sunk to a level of mere existence with nothing to live for. I though Eddie Marsan was as good as you could want in this, and whether my reading of the intent in the script is misplaced or not, my confidence in his acting gives me a reason to have some faith in the role he's playing. I might have misjudged it, but he's playing a broken empty man, and the pain in that life is there to see.

Lynette was also really good too, I thought. I didn't like her, then I warmed to her, then didn't like her again and so on back and forth. She was a mess, and I think she showed me someone conflicted about what she's doing and what she wants.

Not a classic, nor terribly original or with much of a message to give us, and as I say, I do get your points, but I also think that the central characters were well played - or at least their performances allowed me to get something out if the experience.

But it was interesting to read OP's comments - a well written post.

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Yes I agree wholeheartedly with the OP. Not a good film and in fact a disappointment.
The two storylines of Marsan's and Gerai's characters were not remotely weighted the same so you had basically a great actress like Gerai completely wasted and unable to do anything with her scenes. She was near pointless apart from an easy way of redemption for Marsan. She didn't exist or feel 'real' at all.

Not only that but did anyone notice the whole film was essentially a complete rip-off of the forgotten 60s classic 'The Servant' written by Pinter?
Marsan was Fox, Candese was Bogarde and the nasty boyfriend was Bogarde's girlfriend. Only they slightly swapped two roles so the boyfriend was the evil one like Bogarde.

So not only was the story unoriginal but I felt Marsan and Candese's descents into alcoholism and drugs respectively was just way too quick and easy. And all just because the boyfriend was putting them down? Marsan showed he was good at self defence early on yet failed to use it on the boyfriend except for one drunken half-hearted punch. It felt irritating and I kept shouting at him to 'Chuck the cheeky sod out of YOUR flat' all the time!

Plus as the OP said the ending was predictable and all too easy. Plus as Candese walked away with a rather smug grin her face like she felt pleased she'd done a good thing I just felt annoyance at her character in wrecking Marsan's life essentially. It made for an annoying watch of a film I'd been looking forward to. It would have been much more interesting if it had just been about Marsan and the girl and how their relationship grew. The other two characters were superfluous really. Who knows maybe an offbeat romance between two damaged souls might have been more engaging? Like a British Buffalo '66?

But the 3 leads acted well and the soundtrack was great so those are the positives I can find for this film. 6/10

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