KILLING ME SOFTLY
UK, 2002, 104 minutes, Colour.
Heather Graham, Joseph Fiennes, Natascha Mc Elhone, Ulrich Thomsen, Ian Hart.
Directed by Chen Kaige.
Killing Me Softly is an extraordinary misfire. It is based on a psychosexual thriller by the husband and wife team Nicci French (Nicci Gerrard and Sean French). This would provide the basis for a very interesting film. However, it has been directed by the famous Chinese director, Chen Kaige (Farewell My Concubine, The Emperor and the Assassin). It does not work, this meeting of English sensibility and Chinese art.
The subject is familiar from many romantic thrillers (one might think of Rebecca). A young woman is attracted by a silent and commanding man. She abandons everything for him. The impassioned relationship, of course, leads to disaster and the revelation of the truth about the mental stability of the man. While this is familiar, it is always good ingredients for a psychological study. It is material that a director like Adrian Lyne would have relished (from 9 1/2 Weeks to Unfaithful).
Chen Kaige has decided to let London be one of the principal characters of the film. As an outsider, he has an eye for cityscapes and there is quite a range of views of London and its atmosphere. However, he does not seen to be able to judge well British behaviour, especially in an impassioned situation. The danger is that the sex sequences seem more ludicrous than passionate. Joseph Fiennes, always an enigmatic and rather distanced actor, does his best with the laconic role of a celebrated mountain-climber who is involved in a passionate relationship. Heather Graham, who has proven that she is good at serious drama as well as comedy (From Hell, The Guru, the Austin Powers films, Boogie Nights) does her best at impersonating someone who might fall for this handsome stranger and become embroiled in a passionate and mysterious affair. Natascha Mc Elhone portrays the hero's suspicious sister.
There is a heightened climax with a melodramatic and violent ending the killing is not always done so softly. What might have been an interesting drama, ends as a film which many audiences have felt embarrassed watching, leading to unintentional smirks and laughter.
1. Adaptation of a thriller? Romance? Sex drama? Melodramatic?
2. The adaptation, the treatment by a Chinese director? In London? Particular perspective?
3. London, the familiar landmarks, flats, offices, shops, the streets? Realistic atmosphere? The sequences in the Himalayas and the atmosphere of mountain-climbing?
4. The plausibility of the characters, the plot, the entanglements? Madness and obsession?
5. Alice, in the United Kingdom? Her work in London? Enjoying London? Her relationship with Jake? Her work, computers, games? Her co-workers? Her voice-over – touching the signal, with Adam? Looking, following, in the shop? Their meeting? The passion? Her bad feelings about Jake, the separation? The love for Adam, sharing, the exhilaration? The wedding? Meeting Deborah, her friendliness and support? Glad that she was Adam’s sister? Klaus, the people at the shop, the mountain climbers? The ceremony, the mountain climbers welcoming Alice? Her beginning to be suspicious, the visit to the missing girl’s mother, the explanation? Finding the letters? Adam and his suspicious behaviour, not telling the truth? Her escaping from the house before he arrived? The tension? The psychologist? The police? The going to the spot in the mountains, where the honeymoon was? The confrontation with Adam – and the revelation of Deborah, her fight, her madness, her death? The reconciliation with Adam?
6. Adam, his background, the sequence on the mountain, the loss of life, his blaming himself? His book? The chance encounter with Alice at the signals? In the shop, the relationship with Alice, passionate? Sharing everything, the wedding, the honeymoon and the hiking, the friends? The suspicious behaviour, from the point of view of the audience? His becoming aware of Alice’s behaviour? His relationship with his sister? The revelation that he was not mad, Deborah’s madness, his reaction, her death?
7. Deborah, initially charming, welcome Alice, understanding? Sharing? The revelation of her obsession, relationship with Adam, her destructive attitude, death?
8. The climbing friends, Klaus in the shop, support of Adam, the marriage, the friendship?
9. The police, listening to Alice, no grounds for arrest? Her fears, his violent reaction? The truth?
10. The supporting characters, the mother of the girl who disappeared? The various people at the workplaces? Giving a realistic background to melodramatic relationships and violence?
