(may contain spoilers)
Douban rating: 6.4
Director: Benoît Delhomme
Starring: Jessica Chastain, Anne Hathaway, Josh Charles, Anders Danielsen Lie
Douban Comments: “I watched the whole thing with tension; for me, it was a psychological thriller. The atmosphere was really eerie and uncomfortable. Although the pacing was slow and it was mostly dialogue, the performances of the two leading actresses were so excellent that I completely believed in their characters’ perspectives, making me follow along with their doubts and suspicions. I didn’t expect the movie to be like this; I initially thought it would be a low-quality film, but it exceeded my expectations.”
“Compared to murder, slowly severing a person’s emotional connections with everyone around them, making reason yield to doubt and trust misplace, is suffocating in a certain way… The subtleties of human nature are an abyss. Surprisingly, it was very good; the subtle psychological changes were captured precisely, making it impossible not to empathize. The slight suspense and thrill were also just right. However, the intimate relationships within the two families were very strange; it was as if the spouses and mother-son pairs were unfamiliar with each other. PS: Both actresses were stunning (I even thought they were a couple at first).”
“It’s a remake of ‘Duelles’. I haven’t seen the original version, but based on the reviews, the plot doesn’t seem to have changed much. However, I think a notable improvement is setting the story in the United States in the 1960s, a period of significant transformation regarding women’s self-worth. Alice, a career-oriented woman, lowers her head within her family and is deemed insane. Celine, a typical wife and mother by societal norms, is considered the culprit and subsequently becomes mad. In an era where women’s voices were largely unheard, a woman’s sole value was tied to her role as a mother. Losing that role meant losing their significance, and this fear, intertwined with motherhood, drove the two women to antagonize each other. The film’s ending suggests a desire to dismantle the traditional social structure where women were either deemed insane or driven to madness. It implies that, even if they have to turn bad, women have worth beyond motherhood.”
“The film captures the life of a middle-class housewife with striking accuracy – on the surface, it looks glamorous, but underneath, it’s exhausting and powerless. Bright and cheerful social scenes suddenly cut to dark rooms where she’s alone, dealing with chores, her tired face revealing every pore and wrinkle. The scenes where the two women spy on each other through the curtains are especially interesting – it feels ambiguous, almost intimate, yet there’s a sense that the viewer’s mind is hanging by a delicate thread, barely holding on. Later, when Céline has a mental breakdown and decides to take revenge, shots from her perspective disappear. You know she’s still watching, but the shared sense of fragile vulnerability is gone. Behind the soft curtain now lies something sharp and unknowable.”
“Three and a half stars. The hidden tension between the two women mostly comes from both being stay-at-home wives. If Alice had kept working at the newspaper, she wouldn’t have witnessed the tragedy or developed such anxiety about balconies and tall buildings. If the men in their lives hadn’t been so absent, Damian wouldn’t have had the right to criticize Céline for her neglect.
The ending is chilling. The two women will never truly reconcile or become close again. One of them pushes the other toward death, and then adopts her son – either to fill the unbearable void left by losing her own child, or as a twisted act of revenge for being wronged and misunderstood.
A mother’s instinct is to protect her child at all costs. But sometimes, that instinct strips away civility and dignity, revealing darker emotions like suspicion, possessiveness, jealousy, and madness.”
