Spoilers lie herein...
Wow.. a rather short film. Quite simply put, I did find it a strong message on how violence somehow needs to be justified by the psyche through re-creating the experience with a more palatable guise. In other words, even psychosis needs to find its own safe haven. People commit absolutely abominable acts, but this indeed stems from an impulse that, at some point, makes perfect sense to them. But sometimes even the rawness of the act per se is intolerable and needs to be masked as something else. In the case of this film (stop reading if you haven't seen it yet), he murdered his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend. The acts were brutal, but his consciousness splintered (to a certain degree) in order to create a delusion that would not be as shocking to his fragile mind.. in the case of the sexual violence, it was justified by the overt sexual advances of Kim and her repeated beating of John; in this light, he had "permission" to hit back, thereby allowing justification of what ensued. People kill when their own survival is threatened... John saw his own definition of self in peril... that is, a relationship with a woman who satisfied his perverse whims (creating outlandish tales of past sexual experiences).. when she threatened to leave him, his life as he knew it was jeopardized, and he needed to kill off the double threat (Ingrid and Ake).. as it is, this perverse view of self is what kept his psychosis encapsulated and, when it was shattered, he lost it. I loved the concept of the film, it drew me in less than I had hoped. I enjoyed the performance of Kristoffer Joner very much, but felt that some of the others' came off as strained. Very enjoyable nonetheless.. I did feel a twinge of sympathy for John.. his life will be one of seclusion till the end of his days.
Wow.. a rather short film. Quite simply put, I did find it a strong message on how violence somehow needs to be justified by the psyche through re-creating the experience with a more palatable guise. In other words, even psychosis needs to find its own safe haven. People commit absolutely abominable acts, but this indeed stems from an impulse that, at some point, makes perfect sense to them. But sometimes even the rawness of the act per se is intolerable and needs to be masked as something else. In the case of this film (stop reading if you haven't seen it yet), he murdered his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend. The acts were brutal, but his consciousness splintered (to a certain degree) in order to create a delusion that would not be as shocking to his fragile mind.. in the case of the sexual violence, it was justified by the overt sexual advances of Kim and her repeated beating of John; in this light, he had "permission" to hit back, thereby allowing justification of what ensued. People kill when their own survival is threatened... John saw his own definition of self in peril... that is, a relationship with a woman who satisfied his perverse whims (creating outlandish tales of past sexual experiences).. when she threatened to leave him, his life as he knew it was jeopardized, and he needed to kill off the double threat (Ingrid and Ake).. as it is, this perverse view of self is what kept his psychosis encapsulated and, when it was shattered, he lost it. I loved the concept of the film, it drew me in less than I had hoped. I enjoyed the performance of Kristoffer Joner very much, but felt that some of the others' came off as strained. Very enjoyable nonetheless.. I did feel a twinge of sympathy for John.. his life will be one of seclusion till the end of his days.