ZIPPER
US, 2015, 103 minutes, Colour.
Patrick Wilson, Lena Headey, Ray Winstone, Richard Dreyfuss, John Cho, Dianna Agron, Christopher Mc Donald.
Directed by Mora Stephens.
Zipper is a fairly blunt and unsubtle title for this film. It is a not unfamiliar subject, a picture of an addiction and its running out of control, the dire consequences for the man himself, his family, his career. It keeps the interest all the way through even as the audience dreads the outcome of the consequences.
Patrick Wilson is Sam, an up-and-coming lawyer with the prospect of becoming district attorney. He wins a significant case against corrupt politicians and his company is targeting the mayor. the lawyer is happily married, Lena Headey playing his wife, with a child, and friends and associates interested in supporting him in his legal ambitions and even of a wheeler and dealer, played by Richard Dreyfuss, interested in promoting him for politics. Also in the mix is Ray Winstone as a journalist for a prestigious magazine who could publish an article about him that could make his career.
At the celebration party after his winning the corruption case, we see that Sam has a roving eye, one of the temporary staff is giving him the come on which he follows then breaks off, but masturbating to pornography on his return home. the signs there for his double standards and hypocrisy, He is being publicly seen as an upright character.
The office has a case concerning escort agencies with a provocative witness catching Sam’s roving eye again, leading him to go online, to look up websites of the agencies, eventually phoning under a false name, making appointment, being wary about going through with it but succumbing. This leads to an indulgence of frequent visits, a different girl every time, his wife becoming suspicious of his behaviour and his trying to buy her off, the magazine writer following him and showing him compromising pictures.
In an interview with the political promoter, he promises this is all in the past – but the final image is of him going down a hotel corridor, knocking and going into yet another appointment.
There have been many films about the double standards of people in the public eye – but this is a narrower focus on one man and his sexual addiction, his being unable to change and audiences imagining what the consequences will be.
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1. The title, the term, the theme?
2. The American legal and political worlds? City life, offices, homes, hotels, escort agencies? The musical score?
3. Patrick Wilson as Sam, as a person, age, wife and child, home life, practice of the law, the initial waiting for the verdict, prosecuting the corrupt, winning the case, the celebration? His roving eye at the party? Kissing the girl – drinking, breaking it off?
4. The family man, phoning his wife, at the party, the encounter with the girl, her come on, smoking, his going home, masturbating, the pornography? Indication of what was to come?
5. The legal meetings, his boss and his relationship with him, discussion of the cases, his ambitions, the witness a model, the escort agency and her story?
6. The reasons for his searching the computer site, looking at the models, curiosity, sex drive? Leading to the development of his addiction – there already? His home, his wife having an affair before they were married, his mentioning this as an excuse?
7. The possibility of his becoming DA? The political mover and shaker, meeting him at the party, discussion of the possibilities, politics? And yet his roving eye distractions?
8. Making a phone call to the agency, calling himself Bob Fuller, the receptionist, the answers? Nervous for the first time, studying the site, asking for a specific girl? To the hotel, the room number, meeting the girl, wary, the shower, her being provocative, resistance, giving in, the beginning of the affairs?
9. Returning to the site, the phone calls, the different girls, seeing each only once, listening to the recommendation by the girls? The collage of his visits, the buildup of his addiction? Saying he was at meetings, his lies, his wife, suspicions, taking her to buy the expensive sunglasses? Her questioning him?
10. Journalist, friend of Sam’s wife, the meeting, the interview, talk? The possibility of a long article promoting him, to law or to politics?
11. The case of the company, escort agencies, the police involvement, his assistant and his using him as a source for information? The boss, discussions, the emergence of hypocrisy and double standards?
12. The closing of the agency, prospect of crime and money laundering? The visit of the FBI agents to the office, Sam’s denials? The agent leaving him and giving him a warning?
13. Going to the hotel, the collapse, hospital? Confession to his wife, her reaction, disgust?
14. The journalist, having him followed, the meeting with him, showing all the compromising photos?
15. Going to meet the prostitute, meeting her mother at the apartment, talking in the car, her offering sex, his indulging himself again?
16. The mover and shaker, the interview, his knowing all about Sam’s failures? Appealing to Sam’s ambition? His promise that this would not happen again?
17. The promise, seeing Sam going down the corridor in the hotel, the door and entering?
18. Realism? Public expectations of politicians to be better? But their not being better?
