Reviews

Like someone else wrote before me never ever have the opening sequence outdo the rest of the movie!

It started great, i liked the characters, beautiful shots, beautiful lights, everything was in place. Then boom, something happened and the film lost itself in the mids of what i can only attribute to director panic! Because it was rushed.

The story had all the elements of a perfect psychological thriller, the ghosts and horror elements were cheap. Many things were never fully developed, for example: the hickey after the "dream", the idea that what happened in the visions had a repercussion in reality was tossed around but never explained. And the questions remains, was it all a psychosis (schizophrenia) or am I supposed to believe she really had visions?? The ending scene was too perfect just like a dream. That makes me think it was all a fantasy. The character goes from a simple quiet life to the middle of chaotic London where she doesn't fit, but she daydreams a lot and boom here she has the visions of this glamorous girl, and she wants to be that glamorous girl because she starts to dress like her, and then the dream turns into a nightmare (her mental state is deteriorating).

In short, it had a LOT of potential but it needed a LOT of PATIENCE to fully piece it together and make a puzzle shutter island style. Instead, they panicked and rushed and went with the most basic idea.

The ending scene gives it away: it is a fantasy. Not only that , the blonde girl is just an alter ego, in the movie the lady didn't die so there cannot be a ghost of her. In the opening scene, the main character takes a taxi and the driver makes some creepy remarks, same with the guys in the club, mirroring the creepiness of the men in the "visions". Also her father is never mentioned, which makes me think it's connected to her mom's suicide.

Anyway, 6/10 because Anya T. Joy is marvellous. That makes it even worse, with such an actress it is a pity not to deliver a great scripts!

The most curious thing about this movie is the reaction one has after it ends. I immediately despised the cult and thought their ideology was sick and against human values. Then after it ended I started to accept it in a bizarre way, as if they truly lived in another reality (well it's a movie but you get the point) and in their reality this was normal and acceptable. That was the scary part. It went from being an horror to a documentary into the lives of these people. The main character, Dani, slowly slipped into this new distorted version of reality. What made it easier for her was her troubled psyche , she was already lost in many ways and the village was ready to recruit her. They present themselves as her new family and that she now has a place where she belongs and is loved, many new sisters , a new boyfriend etc. It is evil but it slowly becomes acceptable because everyone around her simply accepts it as normal. There is this cult yet the idea can be applied to many other groups. Once an idea becomes acceptable by the majority then it is considered normal , but being normal doesn't mean being righteous.

I also loved the psychological vulnerability of Dani, the girl was trapped, the vain and selfish personality of Christian but selfish(spoilt doesn't equal evil (Pelle). Many hated Christian way more than Pelle , which is very interesting . But if you empathise with the village or at least start viewing their practices as a norm then Pelle is definitely better than Christian.

The movie heavily played on the psychological realm and that beautiful monologue by Pelle with "do you fell at home" resonated with the audience, and it's how cults work. Giving a false sense of belonging yet the lives of the members have no real value to them. It's a psychedelic illusion, a drug that keeps the members enslaved.

Edit : also loved the exercise in empathy shown by the cult when they "shared" the pain of others but again that is fake empathy.

Spoilers.

The main character uses scent to connect with the world. He is an outcast , someone who can't form connections with people or animals or nature, but only perfumes. The character, since the day he was born, was unwanted (born in a poor village and nearly killed by his mother) and a monster (even by his own admission) a creature dressed in human skin. The story has magic realism notes, so keep that in mind.

Throughout the story the character becomes obsessed with creating such a perfect perfume , so perfect that people will adore him and in that adoration(the closest thing he has to feeling something) he can find his place. But it doesn't work, his final product brings out the carnal desire of people, and he in turn finally accepts his condition. He goes back to the place where he was born and lets himself get consumed by people through his own creation(in the end even his own creation was evil). The movie ends in a circle , perfectly poetic.

If you like surprises, good plot, vengeance, regrets, sorrow then this is a good movie .

Spoiler!!

"You killed her twice" You've to watch the movie to understand it.