Second Sight Films
R2 DVD
Beginning his
career working in British television before moving into features, with three of
his films Welcome To Sarajevo, Wonderland and 24 Hour Party
People nominated for the Palm d’Or at Cannes, Michael Winterbottom is one
of the most consistently provocative people working in cinema today.
Astonishingly prolific, he has been the darling of the arthouse scene as well
as a popular and mainstream director. He has made sixteen films in the last
thirteen years and his debut film, Butterfly
Kiss was his stunning albeit explosive debut onto the large screen.
“I've looked all up and down these roads
for someone to love me''
Eunice is
(Amanda Plummer) is just a little obsessed. She travels the bleak motorways of
Lancashire, moving from gas station to gas station searching for a woman named
Judith. We never really understand her obsession, but we soon learn that she is
deadly serious. At each station she asks the woman behind the counter if she is
Judith, if she answers in the negative Eunice kills them. That is until she
meets Miriam.
Miriam is a
rather lonely character, partially deaf, working in a dead end job, living with
her disabled mother and not intelligent enough to better herself. For some
strange reason Eunice and Miriam are immediately attracted to each other.
Rather than kill Miriam, Eunice seduces her and this is where we see the real
Eunice; with all her chains, piercings and tattoos, a true outsider; angry,
damaged and yet needing love and companionship.
When Eunice
leaves, Miriam gives chase and becomes her companion, hiding the bodies and
joining her in a wild journey of sex, murder and perhaps even love. Saskia
Reeves does an excellent job as Miriam, who seems so much in need of love that
she will put up with wild bondage sex and cover up all manner of carnage and
violence. She wants to see the best in Eunice and change her for the better but
slowly she finds herself losing ground and together Eunice and Miriam become a
strange and enigmatic pair.
This is a film
you will either love or loathe. It is dark, at times very unpleasant and
confronting. It is the story of “outsider” love, similar to that of bushrangers
bonding together beyond the law. The deep and profound bond that they form
together is not easily deciphered and this is the heart of the film; that a
strange and eccentric love can form in the most bizarre of situations.
There are so
many ways in which the film can be read, Eunice and Miriam are shortened in the
film to Eu (You) and Mi (Me) and thus could represent the two sides of a woman
traumatized by her life experience. On the other hand Judith has a certain
resonance with the Old Testament Judith, an avenger who beheaded an enemy of
the Israelites; in this case, it may be a projection of Eunice who wants to see
herself as somehow justified in her violence. Accordingly she projects an
idealized warrior woman whom she searches for.
On a more
superficial level it is a mixture of road movie, lesbian love story, serial
killer tale, psychological drama and black comedy with awesome wild girl music
along the way.
This is a
strange film, enigmatic and eccentric; it will leave you with many questions
and offers no conclusions. What I especially like is that the filmmaker has
suspended all judgment about Eunice and Miriam; it is up to us to travel the
journey with them and make our own conclusions about the meaning, if there is
any at all, to their lives and crimes.
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This
review will appear in Volume 2 No.5
(2009) of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.
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