*** Warning *** Contains Spoilers ***
Much of the life surrounding the initial three characters (Gallagher, McDowell, and San Giacomo) plays out like a tv soap opera; they are stereotypical 30-somethings caught in a hollow world dominated by sex and social status. At the center of this love triangle is McDowell, the frigid, introvert hausfrau that suffers from the affair between her husband and her extrovert sister. Basically, there is not much going on here to take note of.
Then comes Spader, the old college buddy. Its obvious from the sexual tension that pervades the early dialogue between Spader and McDowell that he is the dark stranger who will eventually release her from her loveless marriage. Big deal.
But wait.
Out of nowhere, Spader reveals he is impotent. Hmmm. Then he reveals an even stranger tidbit about himself. He has a particular fetish of videotaping women engaged in explicit conversations about their sex lives. Wow. Suddenly I have become drawn in to his character, and surely enough, all 3 of the other characters have become drawn in also to the enigmatic Spader and his fetish.
As the sexual hangups of the other 3 characters eventually cross paths with Spader, who seems to want nothing to do with them, the role of his character comes into question. There seems a subtle crafty intelligence here, something that slips underneath the tough exterior of San Giacomo and somehow convinces her to a sensitive, not at all contrived videotape interview with Spader. Spader seems a sort of psychoanalyst, his videotape fetish a form of new therapy.
Spader's character is what makes this movie so brilliant. Everything about his dark personality leads to the final psychological battle between himself and McDowell. Although it seems a bit rushed, we learn a bit about Spader's own sexual hangups, a slight glimpse into his past, and feel sorry for him, he seems so complex, so unlike the stereotypes of the other 3 characters that one can only fall in love with him. He is what drives the movie, what makes it so brilliant. Without him, the movie fails to be anything more than cheap daytime tv material.
10 out of 10.
Much of the life surrounding the initial three characters (Gallagher, McDowell, and San Giacomo) plays out like a tv soap opera; they are stereotypical 30-somethings caught in a hollow world dominated by sex and social status. At the center of this love triangle is McDowell, the frigid, introvert hausfrau that suffers from the affair between her husband and her extrovert sister. Basically, there is not much going on here to take note of.
Then comes Spader, the old college buddy. Its obvious from the sexual tension that pervades the early dialogue between Spader and McDowell that he is the dark stranger who will eventually release her from her loveless marriage. Big deal.
But wait.
Out of nowhere, Spader reveals he is impotent. Hmmm. Then he reveals an even stranger tidbit about himself. He has a particular fetish of videotaping women engaged in explicit conversations about their sex lives. Wow. Suddenly I have become drawn in to his character, and surely enough, all 3 of the other characters have become drawn in also to the enigmatic Spader and his fetish.
As the sexual hangups of the other 3 characters eventually cross paths with Spader, who seems to want nothing to do with them, the role of his character comes into question. There seems a subtle crafty intelligence here, something that slips underneath the tough exterior of San Giacomo and somehow convinces her to a sensitive, not at all contrived videotape interview with Spader. Spader seems a sort of psychoanalyst, his videotape fetish a form of new therapy.
Spader's character is what makes this movie so brilliant. Everything about his dark personality leads to the final psychological battle between himself and McDowell. Although it seems a bit rushed, we learn a bit about Spader's own sexual hangups, a slight glimpse into his past, and feel sorry for him, he seems so complex, so unlike the stereotypes of the other 3 characters that one can only fall in love with him. He is what drives the movie, what makes it so brilliant. Without him, the movie fails to be anything more than cheap daytime tv material.
10 out of 10.