User Reviews

I think the performances from these two actors are good and the production design is beautiful. I like the fact that at the beginning you establish us, the audience, as voyeurs. The story is very simple and transparent and yet at the same time cryptic and oblique. The cryptic stuff is in the details you show us like the knives, the slices of chicken breast and the writing on the mirror. Some of the extreme close-ups before the mid-point of the film don't quite work for me, they seem a little too artificially inserted. I love the fact that when she reappears in the room, we see only her face against the darkness. I was a little confused by the eyelines after this point, and this might be one reason why some people are finding the story difficult to pin down. It's interesting to conjecture why he might have decided against sleeping with her by the time she re-emerges from the bathroom. Does her lipstick remind him of the wife he has lost? Does she remind him of his daughter whose picture we see on the mantelpiece? Possibly he doesn't want to 'betray' his loved ones like this, or perhaps the sordidness and soullessness of the encounter bother him. It is striking that a lot of people say they don't follow the story. This was my reaction when I first saw the film; but when I saw it again I realized that everything you need to understand the story is in the film. I think this has happened because both characters are fearful in certain ways, and the subjective, POV type shots do a good job of magnifying the fears they have of this encounter. I think some people might be viewing these as narrative plot-points. The music at the end is very important in understanding the story, and it manages to be emotionally downbeat while at the same time being warm and intimate.