I LOVE YOU, PHILIP MORRIS
US, 2009, 98 minutes, Colour.
Jim Carrey, Ewan Mc Gregor, Leslie Mann, Rodrigo Santoro.
Directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa.
Had the King of Siam seen this film, he might have said, 'A puzzlement'. Some of it is played for laughs. Some of it is serious. It is the story of a con man. It is a love story.
What makes it different from the usual movie is that the two central characters are gay men.
The screenplay has no hesitation in presenting its characters, its situations, its crises, its sensibilities, its language, as gay. Most audiences are not used to spending this amount of time in the company of gay men and being asked to identify with them, share their experiences and be accepting. They may feel the atmosphere makes them uncomfortable (and remind us all about explicit and implicit homophobia in society). In fact, much of the film's budget came from Europe, rather than the United States, which is more accustomed to telling stories of sexual orientation.
The main star is an advantage as well as a difficulty. It is Jim Carrey extending his range, trying for a different performance and venturing into a role and a story that might test his fans' loyalties. When he is performing very seriously, he makes an impression, helping us to understand this eccentric man. The difficulty is that often enough, he suddenly makes a face, shows an expression or reacts in the way that he did in some of his wilder comedies, reminding us that this character, Steven Russell, is Jim Carrey on screen. Phillip Morris is played more subtly by Ewan Mc Gregor, a gentle man who has been put down in life and comes to depend in every way on Steven Russell.
Steven Russell narrates his story, his childhood, his adoption, his family and religious life, his police work. After a car accident, he decides to come out – and how! Flamboyant, extravagant, clubbing, buying without limits, a boyfriend – and the realisation that he needed money, so he indulges in a number of frauds. And then to jail where he falls at first sight for Phillip Morris.
Lots of tricks and frauds in prison, then they are out and living the high (highest) life with a top job in a finance firm It can't last – and there is a final elaborate con which we do not anticipate.
The film is based on a book by Steven Mc Vikar who interviewed Russell in prison where he is serving a life sentence (made during the time of George W. Bush as Governor of Texas) under the strictest supervision. Philllip Morris advised on the film and has a cameo.
1. A Jim Carrey vehicle? Comic, serious? Controversy?
2. The title and expectations, the love story? The gay theme?
3. The Georgia, Florida and Texas settings? Communities, homes, police precincts? Prisons? Big business and companies? Mansions? A sense of realism? The 1980s and 1990s?
4. The true story, the cheeky vouching for truth at the beginning? Stephen and his voice-over, seeing him hospital dying, the flashbacks and his telling his story? Stephen in jail? Philip Morris and his time in jail, an adviser for the film, cameo?
5. Stephen Russell as a boy, his family, his parents talking to him about adoption, his brother’s bluntness? His reaction to the news? Seeing him with the children, looking at the various shapes in the clouds, his seeing phallic symbols? The tongue-in-cheek use of this symbol and cloud at the end?
6. Stephen in the police, his love for his wife, children, family life, at church, playing the organ, singing? The ordinariness, the good friendship with his wife – which continues throughout the story? His quest for his mother, her refusal to admit the truth while calling him Stephen? The impact of the visit? Telling his wife, the sexual encounter, opening up the box with the information?
7. The voice-over, the sex scene, with the man? The crash, its effect on Stephen, in hospital, thinking things through, his subconscious murmurings, his homosexuality, wanting to come out?
8. His camp style, his relationship with Jimmy, affection, love? Showering him with gifts, the watch? Going to the clubs, buying the clothes? The expensive side of being homosexual – the need for money, his elaborate frauds, using various cards, found out, imprisonment?
9. In prison, life in prison, his making good, the instructions to his cellmate, the sexual implications of every activity in the prison? Privileges? Stephen as exaggerated, hyper? Adapting to the prison, the conman surviving, his smooth manner? His studying law?
10. Seeing Philip Morris, the infatuation? Philip as quiet, low self-image, the reason for his being in prison, preserving himself, not going out into the yard? Stephen and his organising of the transfer, the sending of notes to and from? Being together, love, having the better meals?
11. Stephen getting out of prison, dressing up as a lawyer, getting Philip out of prison?
12. The job interview, the big company, the boss, his success, smooth-talking everyone? The finance, the figures, his lateral thinking, the meetings? Being hopeless at golf? The explanation to the audience of how he made the money, the investment? His style, the mansion, the car, with Philip at home?
13. Philip, not wanting lies, Stephen lying to him?
14. The discovery, the executive examining the figures, in the toilet, fleeing, his being arrested?
15. In prison, at the court, the executives being vindictive? His various escape attempts? Being re-arrested?
16. His illness, dying of AIDS, Philip in jail again and not wanting to forgive Stephen? Making contact, Stephen getting gradually worse, the tests, going to the observation program, to the hospice? Philip’s visit?
17. The irony that he wasn’t dying, his flashbacks to Jimmy and being with him during his illness, Jimmy’s death? The explanation of the ways he deceived the doctors, the blood tests, altering the figures…?
18. Getting out, with Philip again, getting caught, the life sentence?
19. A portrait of a conman, narcissistic, American, flamboyant?
20. Themes of homosexuality, the plainness and openness of the treatment in the film, audiences being comfortable with this world or not?
