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Looking for Mr. Goodbar
I watched the video (because it's not yet out on DVD) of Looking for Mr. Goodbar.
WOW.
I cannot even describe how dark it is in the last sequence. It's unbelievable filmmaking--I couldn't sleep for a long time last night, thinking about it. I'd seen a lot of it before--I think my mom had rented it back in the day--and I knew how it ended, but the sheer visceral horror of the last sequence is searing. Goodbar is about a young teacher, Theresa, who goes to singles bars at night and picks up men and has sex with them. On New Year's Eve she meets the wrong guy, who goes berzerk and murders her. The story is inspired by (not based on) a real crime that happened in '73. The book came out in '75 and examines the cost and relevance and necessity of the women's movement, and the sexual and social revolution of the '60s. At first I didn't like the message, which I saw as anti-feminist--sexually liberated woman pays for her crimes. But both the movie and book are more complex than that--Theresa's background is pretty stifling, and the traditional mother-and-wife path is not presented as viable or tempting. Also, I think Theresa, on some level, chooses what happens to her--that is, not exactly but she is self-destructive.
But that last sequence--they're in her apartment and she's trying to kick him out and then things get violent. During the ensuing struggle, they knock into a movie projector that someone gave her, so the rest of the scene is in strobe lighting. He's hitting her, and then strangling her, and then raping her, and while she's fighting back at one point she screams "do it, just do it, just do it" which could mean any one of several things. Then he's stabbing her and we see the strobe lighting slow down--from flickerflickerflicker to flicker flicker flicker to flicker flicker flicker, and her face is getting smaller and smaller. Flicker. Flicker. Flicker. Flick. Er. Flick. Er. Flick. Er. Small and wee.
Fade to black.
Oh man. I had a hard time sleeping last night.
WOW.
I cannot even describe how dark it is in the last sequence. It's unbelievable filmmaking--I couldn't sleep for a long time last night, thinking about it. I'd seen a lot of it before--I think my mom had rented it back in the day--and I knew how it ended, but the sheer visceral horror of the last sequence is searing. Goodbar is about a young teacher, Theresa, who goes to singles bars at night and picks up men and has sex with them. On New Year's Eve she meets the wrong guy, who goes berzerk and murders her. The story is inspired by (not based on) a real crime that happened in '73. The book came out in '75 and examines the cost and relevance and necessity of the women's movement, and the sexual and social revolution of the '60s. At first I didn't like the message, which I saw as anti-feminist--sexually liberated woman pays for her crimes. But both the movie and book are more complex than that--Theresa's background is pretty stifling, and the traditional mother-and-wife path is not presented as viable or tempting. Also, I think Theresa, on some level, chooses what happens to her--that is, not exactly but she is self-destructive.
But that last sequence--they're in her apartment and she's trying to kick him out and then things get violent. During the ensuing struggle, they knock into a movie projector that someone gave her, so the rest of the scene is in strobe lighting. He's hitting her, and then strangling her, and then raping her, and while she's fighting back at one point she screams "do it, just do it, just do it" which could mean any one of several things. Then he's stabbing her and we see the strobe lighting slow down--from flickerflickerflicker to flicker flicker flicker to flicker flicker flicker, and her face is getting smaller and smaller. Flicker. Flicker. Flicker. Flick. Er. Flick. Er. Flick. Er. Small and wee.
Fade to black.
Oh man. I had a hard time sleeping last night.