The movie essentially explores the tragic aspects of being a submissive, beautiful woman that is largely powerless in a modern age where rich men with money dominate and that primarily value a woman only for her body. The lead character is Lucy, a unique beauty that is struggling paying her rent as she tries to survive on the wages of a common office clerk. Lucy is contacted by Clara who pays her $250 per hour to work at a house that is a kind of upscale brothel for older rich men.
I was excited for this movie upon reading the summary and watching the trailer. I was expecting a fascinating exploration of feminine psychology and beauty and to see a beautifully artistic movie influenced by rich, classic expressions of architecture and art. I was expecting something more mysterious and elitist along the lines of some of the scenes in Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut.
What I got instead was disappointing. I expected the mansion sets to be finer and more artistic. The mansion itself was more of a utilitarian, cookie cutter upper middle class house than a truly fine mansion with classical architecture. The bedroom set itself, wherein the scenes are the crux of the entire movie, was minimalistic, utilitarian, mechanistic, and looked more like an empty hotel room than a refuge for the rich.
While I am OK with the story itself being essentially gloomy, nihilistic, haunting, and morbid, I needed a better contrast between Lucy's poor life as a struggling office clerk and the "upscale" clientele she services at the mansion. She essentially cycles between her drab utilitarian environment (the office, her house) to the "mansion", which itself is very minimalistic and utilitarian. Thats where the movie loses its appeal. There is little stylistically or artistically redeeming about the movie.
It's really disappointing, because the movie could have been great. The screenplay was an interesting psychological exploration full of very good ideas and the acting was good. If the mansion scenes were finer stylistically and artistically it would have enhanced the contrast between Lucy's regular life and her life at the mansion and gave at least one redeeming quality about the movie.
Instead the viewer is beaten down relentlessly with gloomy scene after gloomy scene. Instead of an uplifting appreciation of femininity, art, and beauty, you get a movie filled with hostility towards men, guilt for the exploitation of Lucy, and a miserable commentary on the injustices of being a woman.
I was excited for this movie upon reading the summary and watching the trailer. I was expecting a fascinating exploration of feminine psychology and beauty and to see a beautifully artistic movie influenced by rich, classic expressions of architecture and art. I was expecting something more mysterious and elitist along the lines of some of the scenes in Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut.
What I got instead was disappointing. I expected the mansion sets to be finer and more artistic. The mansion itself was more of a utilitarian, cookie cutter upper middle class house than a truly fine mansion with classical architecture. The bedroom set itself, wherein the scenes are the crux of the entire movie, was minimalistic, utilitarian, mechanistic, and looked more like an empty hotel room than a refuge for the rich.
While I am OK with the story itself being essentially gloomy, nihilistic, haunting, and morbid, I needed a better contrast between Lucy's poor life as a struggling office clerk and the "upscale" clientele she services at the mansion. She essentially cycles between her drab utilitarian environment (the office, her house) to the "mansion", which itself is very minimalistic and utilitarian. Thats where the movie loses its appeal. There is little stylistically or artistically redeeming about the movie.
It's really disappointing, because the movie could have been great. The screenplay was an interesting psychological exploration full of very good ideas and the acting was good. If the mansion scenes were finer stylistically and artistically it would have enhanced the contrast between Lucy's regular life and her life at the mansion and gave at least one redeeming quality about the movie.
Instead the viewer is beaten down relentlessly with gloomy scene after gloomy scene. Instead of an uplifting appreciation of femininity, art, and beauty, you get a movie filled with hostility towards men, guilt for the exploitation of Lucy, and a miserable commentary on the injustices of being a woman.