EDMOND

US, 2005, 82 minutes, Colour.
William H. Macy, Julia Stiles, Frances Bay, Rebecca Pidgeon, Joe Mantegna, Denise Richards, Ling Bai, Dule Hill, Debi Mazar, Mena Suvari, Jeffrey Combs, George Wendt, Patricia Belcher, Dylan Walsh, Bokeem Woodbine.
Directed by Stuart Gordon.

Edmond is a David Mamet play from the early 1990s. It has all Mamet’s vigorous themes about American male identity and crises as well as his flair for language both classic and crass. This film is under the care and direction of Stuart Gordon who worked with Mamet in Chicago theatre in the 1980s before moving to film and television with a horror bent after his cult success with Re- Animator. Gordon has a great empathy for Mamet’s vision and style.

The other great advantage of this film version is the presence of another Mamet collaborator, William H. Macy. He brings his characteristic intensity, leavened with humour, to a very difficult role. This is a man who between the time he leaves his office at the end of the day will have experienced his descent into hell before the next morning. Macy is supported by quite a number of character actors in cameo roles, but it is basically his film. Among these actors are Joe Mantegna, Denise Richards, Mena Suvari and, importantly, Julia Styles as the friendly waitress.

Macy is Edmond, a somewhat meek Everyman of New York City. However, we find that not very far beneath the surface he is quite racist in his attitudes as well as being misogynist and homophobic.
This will come home to him by the end of the film in ways that he could not imagine.

When his appointment time is changed and he sees a shop with a fortune teller with the same number, he wanders in out of curiosity and an underlying anxiety. The Tarot cards are not in his favour and we see the revelation as a kind of index of what is about to happen to him.

The first crisis is his going home to his wife (Rebecca Pidgeon, Mamet’s wife) and a shouting scene of their breaking up and his walking out. Mamet has said that the play was the result of his break-up with his wife of the time and its bitterness.

As night comes on and he walks some of the dark and mean streets of New York, he decides he wants a sexual encounter. By now we realise that he is something of an absurd character. He goes to clubs and peep shows where he argues with the prostitutes about prices. Generosity is not his first name. He also encounters a mugging black pimp and loses his money and cards – and is unable to persuade anyone to lend him money. However, he fights back, his testosterone unleashed. When he is continually frustrated, he befriends a waitress, tells her his story and propositions her. This is what leads to an outbreak of mindless, angry, highly emotional violence. A visit to a revivalist meeting after a woman on the subway claims he has assaulted her leads to his arrest.

His prejudices rear themselves in prison where he is taken under the care and sexual protection of his cellmate. Has he found some peace or a touch of redemption? Or is Mamet being totally nihilistic about Edmond’s life being completely destroyed? Does Edmond escape in reality or fantasy from his descent into hell?

1.The work of David Mamet? His reputation, his plays, his screen versions, his own writing and directing for the screen, the issues of the American male in contemporary American society? How well illustrated here?

2.The title, the focus on Edmond (and Edmund Burke being a famous 18th century British thinker)? The 20th century Edmond Burke as an everyman figure?

3.New York City, the night, the dark, the mean and sleazy streets, the bars and restaurants, the clubs, the alleys, the diners, apartments? The colouring style, garish? The musical score?

4.The structure of the film: the focus on Edmond, his dithering, going to the fortune teller, his looking at his fate, going on a fated journey, a descent into a physical, psychological and moral hell? The cards as markers along the way?

5.The introduction to Edmond, ordinary, nondescript, in the office, interactions with the staff, his change of appointment time, 1.15? Accepting the change, the elevator, in the street, seeing the fortune teller’s number, 115? A meek and uncertain man?

6.The fortune teller, the information, her grim response, the cards? His going to his wife, the bond between the two, the sexual encounter, the verbal clash, the argument, his being blunt and direct, leaving her, saying he did not love her? Her reaction, wondering whether it was a joke or not? The sequences based on Mamet’s own experience and story? The effect on her, on him? Talking about it later, saying he did not love her, wondering whether they could get together again?

7.In the bar, meeting Joe Mantegna as the person who lived his ideal life? The discussions about life? His giving Edmond the card? Going to the gentlemen’s club, his lack of awareness of the protocols, his behaviour, the girls? His walking the streets, his inexperience, his deciding he wanted a sexual experience? The encounter with the Allegro B-girl, the discussions about money? Her reaction? Going to the brothel, to the peepshow, the encounter with the peepshow girl, the discussion of her behaviour, his reaction, his wanting change? His becoming ever more righteous, mean about money?

8.His interactions with the women, the girl at the Allegro Bar, the peepshow girl, the staff of the gentlemen’s club, the receptionist and her explanation of the terms? Interactions with the owners, the staff? Causing trouble, his being ejected?

9.His going to another club, the encounter with the prostitute, her charm and performance, the discussions about money, the repeat of the discussions? The services and the costs? Her reaction?

10.His going to watch the card tricks on the street, his serious approach, the challenge to them, their bashing him? The police? Meeting the black man, talking with him, believing him, being taken to a squalid area, the alley, his being attacked, his angry reaction? The violence, losing his money and credit cards? His ignorance about cards, ATMs?

11.Going to the hotel, asking for money for the phone, the desk man and his refusal, saying the phone was free – and the irony of its not being free? Alone?

12.Going to the pawnshop, the discussions with the owner, evaluating his ring? Discussing his marriage? Getting some money?

13.Wanting a cup of coffee, the encounter with Glenna, her friendliness, her wanting to be an actress, talking, the bond between them, her sitting down with him, her decision to go home with him? The sexual encounter, the talk, his mania emerging, her frightened reaction, wondering what would happen, the eruption of his violence? Asserting his masculinity? Suspicion, tension, his attack, killing her? The blood? The effect on him?

14.Wandering the streets, going to the subway, the elderly black woman, her being frightened, uncomfortable, going to the police, accusing him of assault?

15.Seeing the church, the preaching, the possibility of salvation, his presence in the church, the minister, the preaching, the religious reflections? God and atheism? Possibilities of redemption?

16.The police, his arrest, trying to talk his way out of things, his lies, the official interrogation, his breaking down and telling the truth?

17.His arrest, going to court for the murder? The sentence?

18.His going to prison, his treatment, his cellmate, the sexual advances, in the dining room, talking with the authorities, the chaplain?

19.The passing of time, adapting to life in the prison, the library? The background of his cellmate, dominance, way of speaking? Edmond’s initial misogyny, bigotry, racism, homophobia? The irony of all this coming down on him at the end through his cellmate, finally bedding down with him?

20.The philosophical nature of the dialogue, the meaning of existence – along with the anger, the epithets, expletives, crassness?

21.The final questions for Edmond’s life? Or was this merely an exercise in existential nihilism?