The film's basic premise; and this isn't giving too much away since it's so heavily sign posted very early on, is that a woman must suffer severe abuse at the hands of a man in order to find happiness.
Terrible film making. The way the camera lingers over scenes of torture and humiliation as if these things couldn't be illustrated in other ways.
It is very possible to portray violence and sexual abuse of women without making it exploitative - Paddy Considine did it in the horrific scenes of 'Tyrannosaur' which, while harrowing, knew where to stop and leave things to the imagination.
What really gets me about films like these is that people who know nothing of such abusive dynamics watch them and have the experience normalized. I'm sure many abusive husbands and partners will get great satisfaction seeing how their acts of violence and hate can actually help women (something they probably told themselves all along).
This is a film which sends out the wrong message about violence towards women. To come back to 'Tyrannosaur', that film is not without flaws but it at least gets the emotional response of women to abuse right. Women do not just put up with rape and torture and then suddenly get better because of some leap of insight. It may seem that way to an abuser of course which is why 'Leap Year' is the ultimate abuser's fantasy. Told from a male perspective and dwelling obsessively on the imagined nobility of female suffering.
A truly dangerous film.
Terrible film making. The way the camera lingers over scenes of torture and humiliation as if these things couldn't be illustrated in other ways.
It is very possible to portray violence and sexual abuse of women without making it exploitative - Paddy Considine did it in the horrific scenes of 'Tyrannosaur' which, while harrowing, knew where to stop and leave things to the imagination.
What really gets me about films like these is that people who know nothing of such abusive dynamics watch them and have the experience normalized. I'm sure many abusive husbands and partners will get great satisfaction seeing how their acts of violence and hate can actually help women (something they probably told themselves all along).
This is a film which sends out the wrong message about violence towards women. To come back to 'Tyrannosaur', that film is not without flaws but it at least gets the emotional response of women to abuse right. Women do not just put up with rape and torture and then suddenly get better because of some leap of insight. It may seem that way to an abuser of course which is why 'Leap Year' is the ultimate abuser's fantasy. Told from a male perspective and dwelling obsessively on the imagined nobility of female suffering.
A truly dangerous film.