DON JON

US, 2013, 90 minutes, Colour.
Joseph Gordon -Levitt, Scarlet Johansson, Julianne Moore, Tony Danza, Glenne Hedley, Brie Larson, Robert Brown, Jeremy Luke, Paul Ben- Victor.
Directed by Joseph Gordon- Levitt.

Don Jon is a reminder of the the famous John of legend and opera, the man with a voracious sexual appetite, Mozart’s Don Giovanni amongst other stories.

However, this is a rather small story of a man around 30, his sexual addiction, his sitting at his laptop, his sexual behaviour and the aftermath. While he has had sexual relationships with women, they don’t seem fulfilling compared with his laptop experience, usually going from the bed to his desk for a supplementary sexual experience. When he does fall in love with a young woman, it seems to be a fulfilment but he still goes to his desk and she catches him, branding him a liar, he making many excuses and lying, and the couple break up.

This is a pity for his parents, an Italian family, when he goes often for meals, brings the girlfriend who charms the parents. They are also Catholic and go to mass, Jon going to confession every week, meticulously reciting the number of sexual encounters as well as his masturbation with pornography, the invisible priest giving him penances which go up and down depending on the volume of the confession. Actually, this is a critique of the priest who is never seen, only his voice heard, listening to the same confessions, giving various penances, but merely going through a routine, and not finally engaging at all with Jon.

The other principal character is a widow Jon encounters at the University. They talk, he helps with her studies, she explains that her husband and child were killed in an accident. She has glimpsed him watching pornography in the lecture room on his phone and challenges him. In their own sexual relationship, he is actually able to lose himself, as she advises that true love is, and perhaps he has some hope in being able to give up his addiction.

Joseph Gordon- Levitt wrote the film, directed and acts as Jon, quite an investment in the film. Scarlet Johansson is Barbara, beautiful (but off-putting as she chews gum). Abbott’s John sister who realises that Barbara would have wanted to dominate rather than love him. The parents are played by Tony Danza and Glenne Hedley. The of the central character is the widow who is played with some strength by Julianne Moore.

1. The work of Joseph Gordon- Levitt, writing, directing, acting? His personal investment in the issues, the critique?

2. The city, apartments, restaurants, homes – ordinary USA?

3. A film for audiences in their 20s and 30s, challenging their own experience, knowing the kinds of characters, the issues, the challenges?

4. The focus on sex addiction, sexual needs, action, the conviction that they could stop – but could not?

5. Pornography, visual, the websites, the availability, Pornhub, laptop connections, sitting and watching, masturbation, the tissues, the effect? Jon and his saying he was lost in the porn experience rather than in the reality of love-making?

6. Relationships, friendships, talk, sexual behaviour, less fulfilling in reality than with the computer?

7. His friends, going to the bars, their talk, sex? Seeing Barbara, her beauty, glamour, yet her chewing gum, drinking, dancing, distance from Jon, but the relationship, the pause, her values, her parents, her friends? Her visit to John’s parents, the meal, charming, helping his mother, the attraction of his father, the final estimation from John’s sister?

8. Jon, his age, work, experience, relationships, not satisfactory, reliance on porn, this trend for the rest of his life?

9. Jon and his relationship with his parents, his father’s expectations, nagging, the tension with his father, love his mother, his sister and her continually texting every meal?

10. The relationship with Barbara, her finding him watching the pornography, her disgust, his lies, excuses? The break? Barbara cutting him off? The final conversation at the cafe, talk, but the reaction be?

11. The parents, Italian, long marriage, shouting, the response to Barbara? His sister and her finally speaking, correctly noting that Barbara wanted to dominate John?

12. The family going to church, to mass, his continually going to confession, every week, the exact detail of his encounters, of pornography masturbation, the priest and his penances, their going up and down depending on Jon’s confession? His exasperation with the priest? The priest and his anonymity, hearing only his voice, the routines of listening and the penance, the priest and the breaking off with Jon, the routines of his ministry?

13. Esther, seeing her crying, her apology, going to the course, catching John with his phone and the pornography, talking with him, her story, widow, the death of her husband and child, her weeping? The sexual encounter, her wise advice about love, losing oneself, Jon learning of this, the hopes that he could give up his pornography, overcome his addiction?

14. The tackling of an unusual subject, bringing it into the open, the realities, the critique?