YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBOURS

US, 1998, 100 minutes, Colour.
Amy Brenneman, Aaron Eckhart, Catherine Keener, Nastassja Kinski, Jason Patric, Ben Stiller.
Directed by Neil La Bute.

Your Friends and Neighbours was written by Neil La Bute. A prominent playwright in the United States, with an interesting Mormon background, he emerged on the cinema scene with the 1997 In the Company of Men. The film was criticised as being heavily misogynistic. However, it was a portrait of misogynistic men rather than a misogynistic film.

The star of that film was Aaron Eckhart who appears as one of a very strong ensemble in this film. The other two men are Ben Stiller who was to emerge as a comic star in There's Something About Mary, Zoolander, Meet the Parents, Starsky and Hutch as well as becoming a prominent director. Jason Patric, despite being the star of such films as Sleepers and Speed 2, did not emerge as a star as people thought he would. The women in the film are Katherine Keener, a very strong presence in many independent films, moving into the mainstream; Nastassja Kinski who had had a long career in such films as Tess as well as One Night Stand and Amy Brenneman, who appeared in a number of films including Daylight but was a success on the television screen in Judge Amy.

With this strong cast, La Bute explores in a rather scarifyingly verbal way, sexuality, marriage, commitment, love as well as betrayal. He is very strong, as usual, on the conversations between the men, macho and superior attitudes and boasting. He does not portray the women as victims but strong in themselves.

La Bute was to change tone in his next film, the parody and satire of Nurse Betty with Renee Zellwegger and Morgan Freeman. He was to change again with his adaptation of A.S. Byatt and her novel Possession with a story in the 20th century (again with Aaron Eckhart).

1.The title and the reference to 'yours' rather than 'ours'? A look at a cross-section of ordinary American young adults?

2.The work of Neil LaBute? Blunt, frank, politically correct or not, not worrying about giving offence? Probing the dark side of human nature and society?

3.Moral perspectives? Amoral? Testing the audience? Audience reactions to and judgments of each of the characters? The conversations about who is good and who is bad?

4.Colour photography? Interiors: homes, the gallery, the hotel, the classroom and theatre, the restaurant, the supermarket?

5.The strength of the film in its dialogue? Contemporary, blunt and frank, psychological insights, social insights? The obtuseness of people expressed in their dialogue? Self-knowledge and lack of self-knowledge?

6.Photographic style, close-ups, action and reaction of characters?

7.The absence of a musical score? The songs? The theme music during the credits?

8.The prologue, Cary: and his sexual activity, rehearsing? Obtuse, self-confident? The paintings of the individuals during the credits sequences? Giving a tone to the film?
9.Jerry: acting and performing, restoration comedy and its background of sexual frankness and freedom, his discussions with the class, the focus on sexual intercourse and human nature and desires? The girl he was performing with - and the later relationship? At home, with Terri, the sexual encounter, his incessant talking and her reaction? His being upset, lack of self-confidence? Their visit to the married couple? Admiring the house, the discussion about relationships, meeting, sexual talk? His infatuation with Mary? His remaining, discussions, his seduction?

10.Barry and seeing him at work, over lunch discussing sexuality with his colleague, his own self-love and ego? His relationship with his wife, the lack of sexual prowess? Self-absorption? The dinner party, discussion about the house, sex? The gift of the watch - and Catherine Keener's discussion about whether the watch works or not and the nature of the gift? The failure of his marriage? His running, talking with Cary the shower and the frankness, the intimacy? The sauna and the stories? His learning about his wife's affair with Jerry? The confrontation? In the gallery, the discussion with the arts assistant? With his wife, her confession, the separation? Finally seeing him in bed, the phone sex and his inadequacy?

11.Mary and her relationship with her husband, Barry and his inability to relate well to her? The beginning of the affair, the reasons, the hotel and the failure with Jerry? With Barry in the same hotel and the sense of failure? Her leaving him? The record with Terri on the machine? Her confession? Cary and his attempt to seduce her? In herself, as a woman, as a wife, as unfaithful, as dissatisfied?

12.Jerry and his sense of failure, the sauna, the discussions with Barry, the clashes with Terri? His going to the gallery, the encounter with Cheri? His work at school, the rehearsal of the play, The Country Wife, the restoration comedy – and the restoration comedy as a basis for this contemporary comedy of manners and morals with its structured pairs and interchanges? His relationship with the student? His returning to the gallery, the clashes with Cheri? Especially with Terri moving in with her?

13.Terri, her relationship with Jerry, his incessant talking, her exasperation? The meals and the discussion about relationships? Her bluntness? Her writing, the advertisements? Her going to the gallery, the encounter with Cheri? Moving in with her, the talking? Her need for silence? The supermarket sequence, with Jerry? Her future?

14.Cary, at the pool, his work and science, the foetus? His self-absorption, running, the shower? His attitudes towards women? Ultra-macho? The rehearsals? His strengths and weaknesses? The sauna, the telling of the story of the high school student and the gang rape? Its effect on him, satisfaction? The AIDS document? His coming on to the other women, to Mary, her reaction to him?

15.Cheri, her work at the gallery, the attraction towards Terri? The clashes with Jerry, Barry and Cary and their approaches to her? Her being self-contained, lesbian attitudes, relationship with Terri?

16.A contemporary film critical of morals and values? Critics and their saying that it had a bilious tone? Nasty-minded? Its critique of contemporary Americans, their egos, self-image, affluence, relationships, sexual prowess, emotions?