*** BIG FAT SPOILERS ***
I start this review still a bit gaping mouthed and hope I make more sense to you than I do to myself in this review. To be honest, I still haven't decided whether or not I liked the movie. One thing I do know for sure, is that it is not most peoples cup of tea. I think I got about three quarters of the way through and was on the 'not liking it' camp, but as it reached its climax, I began to appreciate a lot of aspects of the movie.
As the movie starts, it is very clear we're dealing with an arty one. Now I'm far from a fan of this kind of movie, so I don't expect to make much in the way of sense of the storyline. I do like how the movie is filmed though, I like the use of black and white. I like the separation of the movie into several different titled chapters. In places, I loved the almost musical flow of the script and the beauty of the location. Alongside the beauty we witness, there is incomprehensible violence and nastiness, which is very difficult to understand. It is shocking definately and had my eyebrows raised on a number of occasions, which I will go into later in the review.
As for whats going on in the movie. As we start, the couple who we follow through the movie (they are never named) are making love (all real sex apparently.. we can see why Willem Dafoe has been cast). As this is happening, their toddler son has climbed out of his cot, opened his baby gate and wandered to an open window. He climbs up and falls to the ground below. This opening scene is heartbreaking. As a mother, I probably found it the most difficult part of the movie as its a constant fear of mine and the sheer thought of anything happening to my son, almost drives me insane. This made me better understand the mothers actions as the movie progressed. The way the scene is shot, in black and white and slow motion, with a beautiful piece of music in the background adds to the tragic nature of what's happening. Its snowing outside and we can better visually see the toddler hit the ground below (although this isn't portrayed in a graphic or bloody way thankfully), we also see his stuffed toy bounce off the snow beside him. I had a tear in my eye and a lump in my throat.
