THE GIFT
US, 2015, 108 minutes, Colour.
Jason Bateman, Rebecca Hall, Joel Edgerton.
Directed by Joel Edgerton.
This is one of those stories that it is best to know very little about before seeing the film, wondering, as the film starts, where it could be going, and becoming more suspicious, more questioning, as the film proceeds.
The film was actually written and directed by Australian Joel Edgerton, who has written a number of screenplays, including Felony, and who has been very successful in his screen career both at home in Australia and internationally. The screenplay is very well written, relying on some of the tried and true conventions of this kind of drama as well as some surprises, establishing characters, and gradual revelation of depths in characters and bringing it to a surprisingly edge in the ending.
It all seems very familiar at the opening, an affluent young couple moving to Los Angeles, buying an attractive home in the hills, settling in, she with some business work at home, he a successful salesman with prospects of promotion. So far, so expected. Except that the salesman, Simon, is played by Jason Bateman, best-known for his comedies, his succession of put-upon characters, with characteristic deadpan response, in films like Identity Theft, the Horrible Bosses series… But, it must be said, he plays this very serious role with great skill, an ability to seem ordinary, and ability to mask what is really going on, yet gradually revealing that there is quite a different character underneath his surface.
His wife, Robyn, is played by Rebecca Hall, a versatile actress in such films as Vicky Cristina Barcelona, The Town. She plays her role with great charm, loyal to her husband, yet very sympathetic to the stranger who accosts them as they are at a cash register in a shop. The stranger, Gordo, is played by Edgerton himself, who reveals himself as having been in the same class at school with Simon.
It is Gordo who first leaves a gift at the door, with a card in a red envelope, as a welcome to the couple. Later, he turns up with some more gifts and happily accepts an invitation to stay for a meal, Simon revealing that he remembers Gordo (“Weirdo Gordo”) and would rather have nothing to do with him. Robyn can’t quite understand this.
As Robyn tries to understand better, while sympathetic to Gordo, step by step she uncovers a story that she had not been expecting, traits in her husband that she may have suspected but would have repressed. And, while she is in hospital for the delivery of her baby, Gordo sends three gifts to Simon, reminding him that bygones sometimes cannot be left as bygones.
This means that the film ends with the audience as well as the characters on edge, with quite some unpleasant feelings, unsettling, giving audiences something to reflect on. (Some advertising and comments might lead audiences to expect a somewhat demonic and shock thriller in the vein of the Ingenious series but it is better to think of it more straightforwardly as a domestic drama, delving into the past and experiencing consequences.)
1. Suburban drama? Thriller?
2. The Los Angeles settings, fashionable homes, workplaces, hospital? The musical score?
3. The title, the initial gift, the increasing number of gifts, the red envelope, the notes, the smiley or glum, suspicions – and the final three gifts for Simon?
4. Contemporary couple, affluent, work and promotions, social life, homes, building a family, threats?
5. The past, the consequences? Telling lies, bullying, making others complicit? Violent consequences? Damaging the psyches of victims? Slurs, violence? The issue of bygones and letting them be? Revenge?
6. Simon and Robyn, buying the new house, the spiel of the agent, liking it, moving in, settling? Simon and his new job, the bosses, workers? His feeling at home? Going to the shop, the purchase? Gordo introducing himself, Simon saying he did not recognise him, the response, chatter, school, catching up? The phone number?
7. The gift at the door, Gordo leaving it, the note? His bringing gifts, the fish? The phone calls? Robyn and liking him, inviting him in, cooking the meal, the discussion at the meal, Gordo drinking, talking of the past, Simon’s reaction, negative? Robyn’s defence of him?
8. The promotion, the bosses, the neighbours, celebrating, parties? The discussion of Simon’s rival, his getting the file, the slanderous emails, the rival losing the job, his arrival at the house, smashing the window, his anger, being taken away?
9. Robyn, liking Gordo, the puzzle, the dinner at the house, his leaving, the mystery? His dinner at their house? The talk? Going to the neighbours house and discovering the owners away and Gordo using it? ‘s explanations?
10. The note, letting bygones be got bygones? Robyn and her puzzle?
11. Gordo, the story, at school, his being bullied? The repercussions, his father’s behaviour, condemnation, homophobia?
12. Robyn, Simon’s talk about his schoolfriend, their interactions with Gordo, her going to see him, finding out the truth of the story, the bullying, Simon and his brutality, Gordo’s reputation and the consequences?
13. Simon, Simon Says… The revelation of Simon as a bully, instigating the persecution, following it up?
14. Robyn, the confrontation with Simon, his hard response? Unrepentant? His documentation, Robyn searching, the file about his rival and the consequences in the rival’s attack on the house?
15. Gordo and his leaving of the several gifts, Robyn, in the hospital, giving birth? Simon and his look for the baby, Robyn? The three gifts, the messages, Simon unpacking them, the recordings, the images, Gordo and the previous fixing of the appliances in the house, setting up the surveillance, the truth of Simon’s talk about him and his playing it?
16. Gordo, sinister, the bygones, the images of Robyn’s collapse, the suggestions of rape, the conception of the child? Simon’s not being sure?
17. A domestic drama, the bullying implications, the hurts of the past, consequences, revenge? The future of each of the characters?
