This movie is actually very deep compared with a lot of Hollywood stories presented to us over the years and the plot is not as uncommon as it might seem on first look. Although the writer and director is a female, this is a story from a neutral perspective and both men and women can find themselves in it. You can identify with one of the characters and understand the other one.
The first time I saw it wasn't from the beginning and it caught my eye in a weird way. I underestimated it when I first saw it but something pulled me to watch it again. I've seen it few times since and I think to really understand it you have to see it more than ones. Before you start calling me names, like dumb and stuff for not getting it right away, I should mention that my profession is psychologist and actually I'm in Mensa. Not that it matters when we discuss taste for movies, but when it comes to analyzing the characters I am more than educated to give my saying. Being amateur scriptwriter is helping me see the story from a different perspective. But enough in my defense, the point is to actually give you a friendly advice if you hated the movie the first time: See it again.
What I look for in a movie is a realistic character with flaws and virtues. Good and bad sides. Actually, in a way, the performance of the leading actors was borderline brilliant and I'm not sure that they even realize it. Harper Sloane is a naive (but this movie is not) girl with low self-esteem not the center of attention she would like to be. So she goes on the other side. The alternative side where she's denying the need for attention on the outside but accumulating it inside. A very common story in real life. She meets the disgustingly ugly character Connie (sorry Stephen :) ) who is giving her the one thing she needs the most. In fact she's identifying herself with him. And thus feels very close to him, he is the only one that gets her or the only one who seemingly cares to understand her. A potential soul mate. Sure, you can see him as a dirty old man if you like, and call him the abuser of a naive young body but think again. Cause you can call her the abuser also, she's getting what she wants from him maybe more than he does. She tells him that she plans to move out (not right away but has plans to do so) and what does he do. Gets insanely drunk and ends up in the hospital. He actually loves her. Perhaps not exactly Harper, but what she represents. And he is actually if need be, ready to put everything on the line for that. What he loves is presented to us by the mother Deborah, another complex character that looks predictable on the first look. Also this is confirmed by the other girls that Connie "loved" in same way. Sweet naive losers with desperate need for attention, and even more, help in the forming themselves into bearable creatures as they mature. Bearable for them not for the others. They are all unhappy and depressed. Looking for someone to save them from these feelings. They are all special in some way; Connie brings them out of their cocoons they might have never left if it wasn't for him, and makes them special.
This is a story of life and death (the nature itself), metaphorically speaking, cause throughout the movie we are constantly waiting for the separation of Harper and Connie. The end points it out very explicitly. Probably for those who failed to understand it during the course of the action. About the archetypes, what can I say, perfectly painted in the modern environment. The old man, the naive girl, the mother I could go on for hours but that would probably bore the hell out of the ones who care enough to read what I have to say about this piece of work.
I had a feeling when I finished watching it that it can be done much better. Sure, the movie could have been directed better, superstar cast might have done it differently, more appealing, but than it would lose the imperfection. This way, it's like that old book you found with ripped pages, very unappealing, and read about the secrets in it. Like a diamond found in the garbage. It can be private this way, just for those who spend the time to really grasp it. If it would be a blockbuster, it wouldn't be as precious as it is this way.
The first time I saw it wasn't from the beginning and it caught my eye in a weird way. I underestimated it when I first saw it but something pulled me to watch it again. I've seen it few times since and I think to really understand it you have to see it more than ones. Before you start calling me names, like dumb and stuff for not getting it right away, I should mention that my profession is psychologist and actually I'm in Mensa. Not that it matters when we discuss taste for movies, but when it comes to analyzing the characters I am more than educated to give my saying. Being amateur scriptwriter is helping me see the story from a different perspective. But enough in my defense, the point is to actually give you a friendly advice if you hated the movie the first time: See it again.
What I look for in a movie is a realistic character with flaws and virtues. Good and bad sides. Actually, in a way, the performance of the leading actors was borderline brilliant and I'm not sure that they even realize it. Harper Sloane is a naive (but this movie is not) girl with low self-esteem not the center of attention she would like to be. So she goes on the other side. The alternative side where she's denying the need for attention on the outside but accumulating it inside. A very common story in real life. She meets the disgustingly ugly character Connie (sorry Stephen :) ) who is giving her the one thing she needs the most. In fact she's identifying herself with him. And thus feels very close to him, he is the only one that gets her or the only one who seemingly cares to understand her. A potential soul mate. Sure, you can see him as a dirty old man if you like, and call him the abuser of a naive young body but think again. Cause you can call her the abuser also, she's getting what she wants from him maybe more than he does. She tells him that she plans to move out (not right away but has plans to do so) and what does he do. Gets insanely drunk and ends up in the hospital. He actually loves her. Perhaps not exactly Harper, but what she represents. And he is actually if need be, ready to put everything on the line for that. What he loves is presented to us by the mother Deborah, another complex character that looks predictable on the first look. Also this is confirmed by the other girls that Connie "loved" in same way. Sweet naive losers with desperate need for attention, and even more, help in the forming themselves into bearable creatures as they mature. Bearable for them not for the others. They are all unhappy and depressed. Looking for someone to save them from these feelings. They are all special in some way; Connie brings them out of their cocoons they might have never left if it wasn't for him, and makes them special.
This is a story of life and death (the nature itself), metaphorically speaking, cause throughout the movie we are constantly waiting for the separation of Harper and Connie. The end points it out very explicitly. Probably for those who failed to understand it during the course of the action. About the archetypes, what can I say, perfectly painted in the modern environment. The old man, the naive girl, the mother I could go on for hours but that would probably bore the hell out of the ones who care enough to read what I have to say about this piece of work.
I had a feeling when I finished watching it that it can be done much better. Sure, the movie could have been directed better, superstar cast might have done it differently, more appealing, but than it would lose the imperfection. This way, it's like that old book you found with ripped pages, very unappealing, and read about the secrets in it. Like a diamond found in the garbage. It can be private this way, just for those who spend the time to really grasp it. If it would be a blockbuster, it wouldn't be as precious as it is this way.