THE LIMIT
Canada, 2004, 90 minutes. Colour.
Lauren Bacall, Claire Forlani, Henry Czerny, Pete Postlethwaite.
Directed by Lewin Webb.
The Limit, titled Gone Dark for DVD release, is a psychological thriller. The structure is very complex, audiences finding it difficult to know what happened in the past, what is the present.
The film focuses on a police agent played by Claire Forlani, she has ingratiated herself into a gang, becoming the girlfriend of the boss, played by Pete Postlethwaite. However, she is in a relationship with another agent, played by Henry Czerny, who turns out to be a rogue agent and is murdered. Monica (Claire Forlani) is in contact with the controlling agents who are moving in for arrests. The difficulty is that Monica, being with the drug lords, has become addicted and is in great need.
She accompanies Denny (Henry Czerny) to his apartment. His neighbour is an elderly woman played by Lauren Bacall. She sometimes receives his mail. When he is murdered, Monica returns to interrogate the old lady, holding her hostage, desperate for drugs. The old lady uses psychological pressure to understand the girl, to try to influence her. In the meantime her physiotherapist comes – and it turns out he is an ex-prisoner, a drug distributor. There is a search for a parcel sent by Denny with an incriminating tape. Meanwhile there are some side sequences with a busybody neighbour enquiring after the old lady. There is also a portrait of the various henchmen in the gang, their betrayals.
Most of the film is set either in the old lady’s apartment or in the headquarters of the drug group. They are also trying to deal with the Russians and experiencing betrayal.
Lauren Bacall gives her standard performance (at the age of eighty). Claire Forlani has a difficult job in portraying a complex police agent. Pete Postlethwaite is quite loathsome in his ingratiating manner as well as his ruthlessness (somewhat akin to an even more subtle evil performance in Ben Affleck’s The Town).
Lewin Webb is a producer who has directed only two films, this one and The Good Shepherd, a police thriller with Christian Slater as a priest.
1. The interest of the film? In characters, situations, drugs, the police, addiction, murder, betrayal?
2. The Canadian settings? An interior film – the old lady’s apartment? The drug dealers’ headquarters? The sense of realism, the tone of surrealism? The musical score?
3. The title? As applied to Monica? As a confrontation to May? The alternate title, Gone Dark?
4. The structure of the film, audiences trying to follow it? The flashbacks to the drug situation, Gale, Denny and Monica? Gale’s henchmen, Eightball, Little John, Duncan? The dealings with the Russian drug dealers? The killing of Denny? The flashbacks to Monica with Denny? The interactions, the relationship? His alleging that he would save her? The betrayal? Monica and her return to May’s flat, wanting the drugs, searching for the parcel, the incriminating tape? The present and her pressurising May? The development of May’s character and the confrontation with Monica? How well did the film blend the flashbacks and the present?
5. The character of Monica, as an agent, meeting her controls, undercover, deep cover? Hanging around with Gale? The relationship? Going on the drugs, her needing fixes? Her interactions with Denny, seeming support, his promise to help her, the betrayal? His death and her reaction? The build-up to the betrayal of Gale? Gale wanting her to shoot the traitors? The pressure on the undercover agent? Her going back to May, the interrogations, the physical pressure, the mental torture? May and her reactions, her threatening Monica? Monica in the grip of the addiction and the need? Brian and his arrival? The revelation about the drugs? The gradual build-up to Monica’s desperation? Gale and his being shot? The death of the other dealers? Her facing herself, May and her psychological pressure? The gun? Monica going out of the balcony? Her shooting herself? A pessimistic resolution?
6. May, her age, keeping it to herself, Nora and her husband, interfering, hearing the shots? Nora and her continued visits? May, the friendship with Denny, the issue of the mail? Finding the package, hiding it in the piano? Brian and the others trying to find the package? Monica and the piano? May, her interest in Monica? Trying to help? The discussions, the psychological pressure? Not revealing the truth? May dismayed to find the truth about Brian? His visits and return? The build-up to Monica’s death and May’s sadness?
7. Gale, tough, the drugs, the network, the distribution, the dealings with the Russians, the betrayal of his henchmen, the torture? The guns? His dependence on Monica? Confidence in Denny? The truth about Denny? His being shot, the police set-up? His accepting his death?
8. Denny, undercover, rogue, with Monica, the mail with May, his death? The parcel?
9. The portrait of the Russian dealers? The characters of the henchmen, their betrayals, torture, confessions?
10. The role of the police, the controlling agents? The police squad, the taking down of Gale?
11. The combination of drug-dealing and crime thriller, police investigation, undercover work, the psychological interaction of the two women?
