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THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!
This movie takes my breath away every time I see it. I actually watched it for the first time in a theater and the experience for me and my husband was that unique, stupefying feeling that only comes when you know you have seen something very special (Got the same feeling with "Pulp Fiction" and "Silence of the Lambs"). Repeated viewings have not diminished it.
Could I ever dare to be as remorselessly wicked as Bridget? Here is a perfect, lethal psychopath all the more dangerous because she is stunningly beautiful and sexy as hell. While you don't want an actual psychopath in your life, it is thrilling to watch one on the screen and somehow sympathize with her simply because you are stunned by what she is capable of. Other commenters have pointed out that Bridget does not have worthy opponents in these men that surround her. I myself believe that the point of the movie is not that she is so smart (which she is) but so thoroughly amoral that she always gets what she wants simply by playing with society's fragile rules. Her black empty eyes right before she kills her husband by thrusting her mace down his throat say it all.
Also interesting and what can only be seen when the movie is from her point of view is that her actions don't always succeed but then she manages to adapt. She rather reminded me of a highly proficient, but not expert, chess player. It takes a lot of prodding to talk Mike into murder and even then she still has to play her "Trish" card, make him think that the transsexual (transvestite?) he mistakenly married is coming to Beston.
And what of these poor men? I found their shortcomings completely believable. A scary truth about men in general. Absolutely Bill Pullman's character would still want to be married to her even after all she put him through. He seems to get a sexual thrill in his attempts to track her down after she leaves him in the lurch. Absolutely the NY detective would feel obliged to prove to her that he is well endowed. Absolutely the basically decent rube could be talked into killing for her (well up to a point!). Men feel they have something to prove. Her husband needs to feel that he is still first in her heart. Her rube boyfriend mistakenly thinks that if he could just TALK to her and get to know her she would be his. And why shouldn't she seeing that they became intimate so fast. Shouldn't that give him some standing? Both think they know her and that they are something special. Their egos could not sustain the hard truth: she belongs to nobody. You are nobody special. Bridget is keenly aware of the Sir Galahad complex that afflicts all men to some degree and uses it to her advantage.
Actually, the movie is striking for the way men are always doing her bidding all throughout even when the action is mundane, such as a gas station attendant pumping gas for her SUV when the sign clearly reads "Self Service Only." Her lawyer who is fully aware that she is a self serving bitch but who nevertheless dispenses legal advice. And let's not forget the poor telemarketers working under her at the beginning of the movie. And she does not always need to use all her armament. Sometimes a $20 bill to a bureaucrat is all it takes.
And she also dons several personas when it suits her purpose. The poor battered spouse hiding from her husband when she applies for a job. The little homemaker (with an apron no less!) when she entices the local detective with cookies. Playing on the Beston police's racism and small town mentality when describing the black detective exposing himself. The movie is brilliant in the way it shows her manipulations even in minor scenes and pedestrian situations.
The movie succeeds in establishing a moody film noir feel especially well given that most of it takes place in a modern suburban version of small town America. One of my favorite aspects of the movie is the bland insurance company because it is a realistic depiction of how people live. When my husband and I find ourselves in neighborhoods resembling those in the movie, we still to this day start humming that music.
And yes there's the music. Jazzy, spare, and disturbing, a subtle affirmation of the fact that it is a black harsh world. Highly recommended.
score /10
visceralgirl-1 30 April 2001
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw0341918/ |
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1-12-2019 07:51:36
