First off.. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
Ok, now we can talk.
Despite my hatred for the shown type of human (Hedda Amerson / Robin Wright Penn) as a tenderhearted girl who never turns to seek revenge on the man who she loved, even though he drove her to committing suicide (2 times!) as his first wife, and hit his second wife to the extent that he paralyzed her!!, and then hit his third wife till he killed her!!! And our very good-natured girl just couldn't even hate him a bit! Despite my hatred for that, I hated, and hated, and hated the way that this story was told also!
The movie tried to be as different as its main character. So writer / director (Erin Dignam) didn't put this series of confessions, or justifications for her absolute love, as long sequences in another psychotherapy movie plot. No, she made such a drama, with a sense of thrill, by transporting it to the courtroom instead of the psychiatrist's room. However, the movie had no way to unite us with whatever it wanted to say, or consolidated its case by anything solid, to end up as delicate and fragile like its lead!
Honestly, it lacked cohesiveness, if not lost it. The shots were too long, the pace was deadly slow, and the important information came like a few parsimonious drops. And I'm sure that no artist in the world wants his work to be as soporific as this movie!
Moreover, the lead character, as forgiveness in a human form, was really cold, or not convincing. You'll find yourself screaming so many times: "This is masochism. And it's a crime; you are the victim in it, and the criminal!!". So when she acquits that mean killer, and make him back to society, by this too soft, too weeping and too emotional witness--then he'll do it again and again. Well, lady, this is a man slayer, or - at least - a scary psychopath, who looks like a loving kind of guy; which makes him more dangerous as a killer. However, you're too blinded by love to see that. Hence, this is not love anymore, this is an illness which means that this cute girl needs help very fast as the same as her brutal love!
Further than that, the character of the lawyer (K. D. Dietrickson / William Hurt) seemed a good person from the start, but without one thing that changed in him in the end, for better or for worse. Look at him in that final scene, when he told the lead in great emotionality: "I've learned from you.. a lot ..but I'll tell you about that.. later"!! For me, this is a very weak scene. And when it comes to very weak scenes, then nothing can top those 2 scenes where the lead was swimming in the pool (Fully nude?!). OH MY GOD! If the movie wanted to express visually that she was as pure and placid as that water, then it was artistically pedant. Though, had something to express, or not, both ways IT WAS OBSCENE AND BORING!
And you find those guys who applaud and glorify the movie, who I dare them all to tell me whatever they learned from it, or understood of it. And even if they could, let them be that objective once to tell me, or themselves, what were the defects of their beloved movie then?!
Based on the above, the movie mixes: a character that makes you ailing + a plot and a style which are whether feeble or pedant (or both!) + a well-meaning message that's said by the wrong writing and directing till it turns into ill-intentioned. And the result is: a torturing journey to a provocative goal!
PS: The intro scene of (Sean Penn), as the pathetic image which we all turn into without the presence of affectionate lover, or tolerant persons like (Hedda Amerson) among us--was such a fine scene, that looked separate from the whole movie, as the only perfect thing here, which would make an ugly irony if you compared it to all what came after it.
Ok, now we can talk.
Despite my hatred for the shown type of human (Hedda Amerson / Robin Wright Penn) as a tenderhearted girl who never turns to seek revenge on the man who she loved, even though he drove her to committing suicide (2 times!) as his first wife, and hit his second wife to the extent that he paralyzed her!!, and then hit his third wife till he killed her!!! And our very good-natured girl just couldn't even hate him a bit! Despite my hatred for that, I hated, and hated, and hated the way that this story was told also!
The movie tried to be as different as its main character. So writer / director (Erin Dignam) didn't put this series of confessions, or justifications for her absolute love, as long sequences in another psychotherapy movie plot. No, she made such a drama, with a sense of thrill, by transporting it to the courtroom instead of the psychiatrist's room. However, the movie had no way to unite us with whatever it wanted to say, or consolidated its case by anything solid, to end up as delicate and fragile like its lead!
Honestly, it lacked cohesiveness, if not lost it. The shots were too long, the pace was deadly slow, and the important information came like a few parsimonious drops. And I'm sure that no artist in the world wants his work to be as soporific as this movie!
Moreover, the lead character, as forgiveness in a human form, was really cold, or not convincing. You'll find yourself screaming so many times: "This is masochism. And it's a crime; you are the victim in it, and the criminal!!". So when she acquits that mean killer, and make him back to society, by this too soft, too weeping and too emotional witness--then he'll do it again and again. Well, lady, this is a man slayer, or - at least - a scary psychopath, who looks like a loving kind of guy; which makes him more dangerous as a killer. However, you're too blinded by love to see that. Hence, this is not love anymore, this is an illness which means that this cute girl needs help very fast as the same as her brutal love!
Further than that, the character of the lawyer (K. D. Dietrickson / William Hurt) seemed a good person from the start, but without one thing that changed in him in the end, for better or for worse. Look at him in that final scene, when he told the lead in great emotionality: "I've learned from you.. a lot ..but I'll tell you about that.. later"!! For me, this is a very weak scene. And when it comes to very weak scenes, then nothing can top those 2 scenes where the lead was swimming in the pool (Fully nude?!). OH MY GOD! If the movie wanted to express visually that she was as pure and placid as that water, then it was artistically pedant. Though, had something to express, or not, both ways IT WAS OBSCENE AND BORING!
And you find those guys who applaud and glorify the movie, who I dare them all to tell me whatever they learned from it, or understood of it. And even if they could, let them be that objective once to tell me, or themselves, what were the defects of their beloved movie then?!
Based on the above, the movie mixes: a character that makes you ailing + a plot and a style which are whether feeble or pedant (or both!) + a well-meaning message that's said by the wrong writing and directing till it turns into ill-intentioned. And the result is: a torturing journey to a provocative goal!
PS: The intro scene of (Sean Penn), as the pathetic image which we all turn into without the presence of affectionate lover, or tolerant persons like (Hedda Amerson) among us--was such a fine scene, that looked separate from the whole movie, as the only perfect thing here, which would make an ugly irony if you compared it to all what came after it.