I started off on Maria Beatty's fetish films, gothic and black and white. She has a powerful eye for looking beneath the sex and showing the need, desire and power dynamics. She knows how to work with the actors to show honest performances rather than burlesques of D/s; how to focus on the faces, limbs and fingers where the story is told rather than the actions.
I felt a little nervous going into a feature film of hers but also pretty confident that she would pull it off...which she did.
Even from the first encounter, where Joan touches Lucille's face, you can physically feel the tension between them. It drips with desire but at the same time, its understated and true. Because of the stifling claustrophobia built up from start, the light in Lucille's eyes illuminates the whole room as the look at each other. The script and Beatty's direction bring this off as the alchemy that love is - ethereal and organic.
The power dynamics between the couple are interesting; bring up what the nature of care is. Given that Lucille is "bound" to the bed you expect that Joan would be the dominant one but that's not the case. Lucille is calling the shots as she does when she tells Joan to wash her feet "like you did the last time" and Joan carries out her command. This plays out in the actual bondage scene where Lucille ties up Joan and forces her to tell her just how much she's really devoted to her.
The only thing I can quibble about is Joan's backstory which could have been fleshed out more. It's not clear whether Joan is a true angel of mercy or a serial killer, insinuating herself into families and profiting off the euthanizing of the loved one. It's also not clear if she seduces all her female patients. The backstory seems to exist only to get into the third act to raise the stakes higher. This also might be one of the rare films in which the male character is an underwritten character much like females characters are so...good for the writer!
Still, it's not really about that. The story it tells is wonderful and disturbing.
I felt a little nervous going into a feature film of hers but also pretty confident that she would pull it off...which she did.
Even from the first encounter, where Joan touches Lucille's face, you can physically feel the tension between them. It drips with desire but at the same time, its understated and true. Because of the stifling claustrophobia built up from start, the light in Lucille's eyes illuminates the whole room as the look at each other. The script and Beatty's direction bring this off as the alchemy that love is - ethereal and organic.
The power dynamics between the couple are interesting; bring up what the nature of care is. Given that Lucille is "bound" to the bed you expect that Joan would be the dominant one but that's not the case. Lucille is calling the shots as she does when she tells Joan to wash her feet "like you did the last time" and Joan carries out her command. This plays out in the actual bondage scene where Lucille ties up Joan and forces her to tell her just how much she's really devoted to her.
The only thing I can quibble about is Joan's backstory which could have been fleshed out more. It's not clear whether Joan is a true angel of mercy or a serial killer, insinuating herself into families and profiting off the euthanizing of the loved one. It's also not clear if she seduces all her female patients. The backstory seems to exist only to get into the third act to raise the stakes higher. This also might be one of the rare films in which the male character is an underwritten character much like females characters are so...good for the writer!
Still, it's not really about that. The story it tells is wonderful and disturbing.