Warning: Ending revealed & discussed.
I enjoy foreign films and prefer original movies to their remakes. I really dislike when foreign films are remade for American audiences and changed (usually sugarcoated, with a happy ending tacked on). I loathe this need to pander to our sentimentalism and our refusal to accept more "realistic" films.
However, after seeing this film, I'm curious to see the American remake of this film to see if it's sensibilities are more in line with my tastes. Maybe I'm being unrealistic in thinking American guys wouldn't have quite the same reactions.
I was looking forward to these 30-something characters exploring/struggling with what it meant to be in a relationship. However I didn't like any of the characters. The women barely existed except as foils for the male characters. They were one-dimensional. All of them were portrayed as wanting nothing more than a marriage and kids. They were shown as jealous, shrew-like and clingy/dependent. The men on the other hand (with one happily married exception who was barely shown, and one unhappily obsessed w/ his ex) were shown as feeling trapped by women/relationships.
I really disliked the main storyline of the guy who is about to have a child with his girlfriend and yet suddenly decides he needs to screw a high school student. I was even more mad the way the film let him have his cake and eat it too. In effect the film said it was OK to cheat on your pregnant girlfriend because if you really apologize she'll take you back. I don't feel like he felt guilty for the act. He was just sorry he got caught. I don't feel that he learned anything from the experience. Nor did I feel is he unlikely to do it again.
I was sad that his girlfriend took him back. She admits he killed her love/trust and that it would never be the same. I was even sadder at the end that (to me) seemed to imply she was going to cheat on him too.
I thought the film was going to be about finding contentment in a monogamous relationship - to show that it's OK to give up "the chase", the desire for others because the committed relationship would be a more rewarding experience than a series of one-night stands. (This is not to say it also can't show that people can be perfectly happy as single and free -- I had no problem with the dread-locked guy who openly admitted he was just in it for sex). Instead it showed relationships/marriage as suffocating and unhappy for both parties. It showed that straying out side the relationship seemed to be normal (at least for the men).
I wasn't asking for ALL the characters to be blissfully happy and not have any doubts - or for everyone to feel they needed to be in a relationship. (clearly the obsessed guy needed to learn to be on his own.) I was merely hoping for a exploration of both sexes dealing with these doubts and issues - and I feel what I got was one-sided and very biased towards a particular conclusion. I'll admit I was biased too -I'd hoped for a ending that showed the people in a relationship as seeing that giving up others for a committed relationship is worth it. Instead I feel like I got the reverse. Perhaps it's my fault for coming with certain expectations.
I simply couldn't relate to any of them (being in the same age, having entered a long term relationships, thinking about these issues) - I'd really hoped it would resonate and make me think. Instead I found it rather depressing and disheartening.
And while I hate to stereotype, I'm sort of hoping that was an Italian mentality that would not translate to a different culture's version of this film/these issues. So I'm going to break my cardinal rule of not seeing remakes and watch the American version called "Last Kiss" to see if it plays out in the same manner.
I enjoy foreign films and prefer original movies to their remakes. I really dislike when foreign films are remade for American audiences and changed (usually sugarcoated, with a happy ending tacked on). I loathe this need to pander to our sentimentalism and our refusal to accept more "realistic" films.
However, after seeing this film, I'm curious to see the American remake of this film to see if it's sensibilities are more in line with my tastes. Maybe I'm being unrealistic in thinking American guys wouldn't have quite the same reactions.
I was looking forward to these 30-something characters exploring/struggling with what it meant to be in a relationship. However I didn't like any of the characters. The women barely existed except as foils for the male characters. They were one-dimensional. All of them were portrayed as wanting nothing more than a marriage and kids. They were shown as jealous, shrew-like and clingy/dependent. The men on the other hand (with one happily married exception who was barely shown, and one unhappily obsessed w/ his ex) were shown as feeling trapped by women/relationships.
I really disliked the main storyline of the guy who is about to have a child with his girlfriend and yet suddenly decides he needs to screw a high school student. I was even more mad the way the film let him have his cake and eat it too. In effect the film said it was OK to cheat on your pregnant girlfriend because if you really apologize she'll take you back. I don't feel like he felt guilty for the act. He was just sorry he got caught. I don't feel that he learned anything from the experience. Nor did I feel is he unlikely to do it again.
I was sad that his girlfriend took him back. She admits he killed her love/trust and that it would never be the same. I was even sadder at the end that (to me) seemed to imply she was going to cheat on him too.
I thought the film was going to be about finding contentment in a monogamous relationship - to show that it's OK to give up "the chase", the desire for others because the committed relationship would be a more rewarding experience than a series of one-night stands. (This is not to say it also can't show that people can be perfectly happy as single and free -- I had no problem with the dread-locked guy who openly admitted he was just in it for sex). Instead it showed relationships/marriage as suffocating and unhappy for both parties. It showed that straying out side the relationship seemed to be normal (at least for the men).
I wasn't asking for ALL the characters to be blissfully happy and not have any doubts - or for everyone to feel they needed to be in a relationship. (clearly the obsessed guy needed to learn to be on his own.) I was merely hoping for a exploration of both sexes dealing with these doubts and issues - and I feel what I got was one-sided and very biased towards a particular conclusion. I'll admit I was biased too -I'd hoped for a ending that showed the people in a relationship as seeing that giving up others for a committed relationship is worth it. Instead I feel like I got the reverse. Perhaps it's my fault for coming with certain expectations.
I simply couldn't relate to any of them (being in the same age, having entered a long term relationships, thinking about these issues) - I'd really hoped it would resonate and make me think. Instead I found it rather depressing and disheartening.
And while I hate to stereotype, I'm sort of hoping that was an Italian mentality that would not translate to a different culture's version of this film/these issues. So I'm going to break my cardinal rule of not seeing remakes and watch the American version called "Last Kiss" to see if it plays out in the same manner.