I'm going to begin this review by pointing out that this movie has some very, very, very slow points in it. So slow that I would occasionally flip through a book I was reading at the time until something of interest caught my attention and I was watching again. But the parts that got my attention were well worth the dragging moments in-between. This may contain spoilers, so you are warned again.
Nicole Kidman's character, Grace, is running from the mafia (for currently unknown reasons) and seeks shelter in a small little town out in the middle of nowhere. The town actually reminds me of what the original American colonies might have looked like or an Amish town, but with technology. The townspeople reluctantly agree to hide her but they ask that in return she work for them just like everyone else in the town. Of course, the grateful Grace agrees willingly and eagerly sets to work to help the community that had accepted her despite the obvious dangers. But gradually, Grace's jobs become more demanding the play less and less. One of the happy things in the town though is that she finds love in a man named Tom (who is a soft spoken gentle man who likes to ponder things). Unfortunately, the other men also take notice of Grace's outstanding beauty and begin to threaten her with her safety if she refuses to sleep with them. In turn, the women blame this fact on Grace herself and punish her by breaking some of her most prized possessions. Grace finds she cannot escape from the demented town and is forced to put up with their cruelties, despite whatever small help she gets from her lover Tom.
Again, one thing that I LOVED is the filming and set design of this film. It's almost as if you're watching a play. Everything is labeled in chalk (the streets, the graveled path, the bushes, snow, etc.), the houses are represented by tall wooden flat pieces of... wood, there's an actual truck though and tables and other such things. I loved this concept... it's like seeing a play but paying the price for a movie.
Now to talk about the things that horrified me the most. And this is where the SPOILERS come in.
* When Grace tries to escape in the truck only to be returned to the town (why they were so hellbent on keeping her I have no idea... it seemed rather silly but it made them all seem the more crazy) and forced to wear a chain around her neck that was attached to a large metal wheel that she was forced to drag around. This was complete with a metal collar with a bell attached to it so that they all knew where she was.
* When Vera forced Grace to watch her shatter the beautiful ceramic figures that she and Tom had been saving for months to buy when she found out that Grace had slept with her husband (though this was more of a rape as Grace tried to tell the upset Vera who would not listen). This made me sob, to put it mildly.
* Tom's betrayal. It broke my heart that he should defend Grace this entire time only to realize that he had never really truly loved her and had only been afraid and had been using her. He then calls up the mafia to come and get Grace, hoping that it would be the end of it.
Which brings us to the ending (MAJOR SPOILERS!!). I LOVED the ending more than words can say. I was hardly surprised when it turned out that the mafia man who had been hunting her had really been her father the entire time and that he really had no intent of killing her but instead to make her a partner (something she wanted nothing of). He also offers to take her away from the town, for somehow he knew all the cruelties she had been put through here, and that his men would kill them all if she so wished. She replies that she would rather live with them than with him and that none of them were cruel at heart. Her father then asks her to step outside and take a walk to think it over, which she gladly does.
I love what happens next. She sits on a bench, looking down at the town, and thinks about how the townspeople were really just scared. She thinks about how she would have done the same if she were them and that she never really thought them wicked at all. And then, the light changes and in classic literary style she sees the townspeople's true natures in this new light. She then calmly gets back into her father's car, says that she wishes them dead, and tells him about a mother with children. When the killing is done and all of Dogvilleis dead, Grace sees Tom whom she asks the men not to shoot. She then takes a gun herself, listens to his pleas for forgiveness, and kills him herself.
Like I said, I love this ending more than words can describe. At first I was really REALLY upset that she would just forgive them. I was outraged that she might let them live. Then I breathed a sigh of relief. It was truly a very moving, beautiful moment. One of the most moving that I've seen in a movie in a long time and in a way it was almost poetic. This movie could not have ended any other way.
Bravo!
Nicole Kidman's character, Grace, is running from the mafia (for currently unknown reasons) and seeks shelter in a small little town out in the middle of nowhere. The town actually reminds me of what the original American colonies might have looked like or an Amish town, but with technology. The townspeople reluctantly agree to hide her but they ask that in return she work for them just like everyone else in the town. Of course, the grateful Grace agrees willingly and eagerly sets to work to help the community that had accepted her despite the obvious dangers. But gradually, Grace's jobs become more demanding the play less and less. One of the happy things in the town though is that she finds love in a man named Tom (who is a soft spoken gentle man who likes to ponder things). Unfortunately, the other men also take notice of Grace's outstanding beauty and begin to threaten her with her safety if she refuses to sleep with them. In turn, the women blame this fact on Grace herself and punish her by breaking some of her most prized possessions. Grace finds she cannot escape from the demented town and is forced to put up with their cruelties, despite whatever small help she gets from her lover Tom.
Again, one thing that I LOVED is the filming and set design of this film. It's almost as if you're watching a play. Everything is labeled in chalk (the streets, the graveled path, the bushes, snow, etc.), the houses are represented by tall wooden flat pieces of... wood, there's an actual truck though and tables and other such things. I loved this concept... it's like seeing a play but paying the price for a movie.
Now to talk about the things that horrified me the most. And this is where the SPOILERS come in.
* When Grace tries to escape in the truck only to be returned to the town (why they were so hellbent on keeping her I have no idea... it seemed rather silly but it made them all seem the more crazy) and forced to wear a chain around her neck that was attached to a large metal wheel that she was forced to drag around. This was complete with a metal collar with a bell attached to it so that they all knew where she was.
* When Vera forced Grace to watch her shatter the beautiful ceramic figures that she and Tom had been saving for months to buy when she found out that Grace had slept with her husband (though this was more of a rape as Grace tried to tell the upset Vera who would not listen). This made me sob, to put it mildly.
* Tom's betrayal. It broke my heart that he should defend Grace this entire time only to realize that he had never really truly loved her and had only been afraid and had been using her. He then calls up the mafia to come and get Grace, hoping that it would be the end of it.
Which brings us to the ending (MAJOR SPOILERS!!). I LOVED the ending more than words can say. I was hardly surprised when it turned out that the mafia man who had been hunting her had really been her father the entire time and that he really had no intent of killing her but instead to make her a partner (something she wanted nothing of). He also offers to take her away from the town, for somehow he knew all the cruelties she had been put through here, and that his men would kill them all if she so wished. She replies that she would rather live with them than with him and that none of them were cruel at heart. Her father then asks her to step outside and take a walk to think it over, which she gladly does.
I love what happens next. She sits on a bench, looking down at the town, and thinks about how the townspeople were really just scared. She thinks about how she would have done the same if she were them and that she never really thought them wicked at all. And then, the light changes and in classic literary style she sees the townspeople's true natures in this new light. She then calmly gets back into her father's car, says that she wishes them dead, and tells him about a mother with children. When the killing is done and all of Dogvilleis dead, Grace sees Tom whom she asks the men not to shoot. She then takes a gun herself, listens to his pleas for forgiveness, and kills him herself.
Like I said, I love this ending more than words can describe. At first I was really REALLY upset that she would just forgive them. I was outraged that she might let them live. Then I breathed a sigh of relief. It was truly a very moving, beautiful moment. One of the most moving that I've seen in a movie in a long time and in a way it was almost poetic. This movie could not have ended any other way.
Bravo!