It's the late 1940s, and Chris cooper is married to Patricia Clarkson. It's a good marriage. They live in a nice house in the suburbs, and she dedicates herself to making a home for them. Meanwhile, Cooper is having an affair with platinum blonde Annabel Kershaw, whom Pierce Brosnan lusts for. Cooper decides he wants to marry Miss Kershaw, but doesn't wish to put Miss Clarkson through the pain and humiliation of a divorce, so he determines to poison her.
This is an impeccably cast and blankly performed neo-noir; everyone says and does things in a low-key manner, except for Brosnan's voice-over narration. Every stick of furniture, building, piece of clothes and manner of behavior is late-1940s, as if the world sprang into existence in 1948. This is, I believe, an issue with neo-noirs; there are no survivals from older times, which in original noirs are the corrupting influence.... except the institution of marriage.
I also wonder a bit about the point of this James M. Cain style of story. What point are the film makers trying to make? That the world isn't as perfect as it appears and that marriage in the late 1940s wasn'tperfect? What a shocking thought!
Nonetheless, the movie does make a few good points about love, and whether it is more than sexual obsession. And the actors and surface story are excellent.
This is an impeccably cast and blankly performed neo-noir; everyone says and does things in a low-key manner, except for Brosnan's voice-over narration. Every stick of furniture, building, piece of clothes and manner of behavior is late-1940s, as if the world sprang into existence in 1948. This is, I believe, an issue with neo-noirs; there are no survivals from older times, which in original noirs are the corrupting influence.... except the institution of marriage.
I also wonder a bit about the point of this James M. Cain style of story. What point are the film makers trying to make? That the world isn't as perfect as it appears and that marriage in the late 1940s wasn'tperfect? What a shocking thought!
Nonetheless, the movie does make a few good points about love, and whether it is more than sexual obsession. And the actors and surface story are excellent.