The Girl from Monday (2005)

A comic drama about a time in the near future when citizens are happy to be property traded on the stock exchange.

Director:

Hal Hartley

Writer:

Hal Hartley

Stars:

Bill Sage, Sabrina Lloyd, Tatiana Abracos

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Bill Sage	...	Jack
Sabrina Lloyd	...	Cecile
Tatiana Abracos	...	The Girl From Monday
Leo Fitzpatrick	...	William
D.J. Mendel	...	Abercrombie
James Urbaniak	...	Funk
Juliana Francis	...	Rita
Gary Wilmes	...	Adjuster
David Neumann	...	Soldier 1
Ryan Bronz	...	Soldier 2 / Benson
Edie Falco	...	Judge
Paul Urbanski	...	CEO
Michael Cassidy	...	Ted
Normandy Sherwood	...	Emily
James Stanley	...	Doc

Storyline

In the not-distant-future, the market has taken over everything, thanks to the marketers. The consumer is king, and those who see value outside of the marketplace are "enemies of the consumer", terrorists, and "partisan" enemies that the state must dispose of. Protagonist Jack seems to be at one with the media corporations (after all, his marketing ideas led to the institutionalization of the exchange of sex for enhanced buying power), but is he somehow involved with the feeble and pathetic resistance movement? Does he love Cecile, his colleague, or is she a pawn in his game? And what of the mysterious girl from Monday? Are immigrants from the star system "Monday" really assisting the partisans?

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Plot Keywords:

watching tv | soda | partisan | terrorist | stock exchange | 

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language, some nudity and brief sexuality

Did You Know?

Trivia

While Cecelia is listening back to test scores, one student's name mentioned is "Warren Cuccurullo", the name of a guitarist who's played with Frank Zappa, Missing Persons and Duran Duran.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Jack: It's such a long way down, it's strange. The word becomes - flesh? The body remains... what? She had traveled light years to get here. And in the vaporous fields of her home star no one had bodies, or names, or identity. A living thought or feeling, stretching out in all directions. Not measured but desired, elegant. But here, in the flesh, the revolution had come.

User Reviews

deep movie if you have the skill to look past production value

I would like to suggest to those who comment on this film, of which there are many, that if one is to judge this movie as 'simplistic' or trite, then one has to answer a set of questions raised by the film -

1. What is the relation between embodiment and desire? Hartley raises this beautifully with the presentation of the girl, and intertwines it with the other themes (among many!) that I would like to point out.

2. What is the role of Christianity in this film? The word become flesh, the girl reading a study bible, the interviewer asking Jack if he is religious, and the idea of sacrifice and martyrdom all raise this issue in interesting and provocative ways. (this is especially interesting considering the film's conclusion and the question it raises about the possibility of a messiah in a capitalist context (i.e. where "value" only means monetary value))

3. What is the relation between desire and the structures of society? Does desire resist that power structure, or is it rather created by that power structure? The film raises the question of whether or not the resistance that is possible is also "good for business," and suggests that desire is fully malleable by the power structure. BUT, it also opens the possibility for real resistance, without being overly optimistic about this.

There are many many other interesting questions raised by this wonderful and thoughtful film, but these are just a few that immediately strike me as central, and which do not seem to play a role in the criticism of the film voiced by many of its detractors.

It is important to develop the skill to enjoy many types of film - important insofar as it simply increases pleasure in watching film - and so it is best to be able to ignore problems with the low production value and bad acting and to enjoy it for its strengths, rather than focus on the negative and not enjoy one's time with the film.

P.S. Anyone else wondering about the references to Homer's Odyssey in the film? So many questions . . .

Details

Official Sites:

The Possible Films Collection [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 July 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Girl from Monday

Filming Locations:

Jersey City, New Jersey, USA

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$921

Company Credits

Production Co:

Possible Films, The Monday Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

84 min (Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente)

Color:

Black and White Color