Last Night
With not much work on my hands and no tv series I am back to movie watching. I watched Last Night again (guilty as charged). I can’t seem to get enough of this movie (or Guillaume Canet to be honest with you :) ). I have had long conversations about this movie with almost all of my friends. We have talked about every single detail and I still am not over it. I am not the kind of person who harps about one movie for months. But, something in this movie kind of struck a chord.
The story is pretty straight forward when you read the blurb:
“It follows a married couple, apart for a night while the husband takes a business trip with a colleague to whom he's attracted. While he's resisting temptation, his wife encounters her past love.”
I read this almost six months back and I was definitely not interested in watching another movie about infidelity. It was such a surprise to see how the story was handled.
Spoiler Alert: I can’t stop discussing the movie, so if you want to watch it please stop right here :)
Keira Knightley and Sam Worthington star as Joanna and Michael, a married couple living in NYC. They have been married four years. At a party, she meets his colleague Laura (Eva Mendes) and immediately suspects foul play. They go home later that evening and argue over the obvious question — did he, or didn’t he?
They settle their argument and the following day, The next morning he heads off on a business trip with… go on, guess :). Meanwhile she pops out for coffee and, as fate would have it, is reunited with an estranged lover, suave Parisian Alex (Guillame Canet). They make plans to have dinner later that evening where we are left to question — will she, or won’t she?
The remainder of the movie flips back and forth between the four of them as we see the games they play.
Last Night was heartbreaking for me. Watching the events unfold between these people and getting invested in whether or not they succeeded or failed as couples was emotionally exhausting. And really, there was no right answer.
And I think that says a lot about the directing, the writing and the stars. Guillaume Canet was a bit of a weasel but he was so charming that you can’t not like him. The chemistry between him and Knightley was very real. I was rooting for the husband to cheat because then she could be with Alex. I know it’s morally wrong but they seem so perfect for each other, the poet and the writer.
But in the end when you think about it, she was the one who actually cheated on her husband even though he slept with the other woman. He was not contemplating on leaving his wife for this woman. For him it was just another night. For her, as she so eloquently puts it “whenever we have problems in our marriage, I think about you”. That statement sums it all up.
What worked best about Last Night for me was that it was real and natural. These characters could have been anyone I know. The situation in which they found themselves could have happened to anyone. The movie was a portrait of one night in the lives of these four characters that I just happened to be sharing.
Finally, its done. I wanted to write about this movie for almost a month but dint find time. I will be back with another review soon :)
The story is pretty straight forward when you read the blurb:
“It follows a married couple, apart for a night while the husband takes a business trip with a colleague to whom he's attracted. While he's resisting temptation, his wife encounters her past love.”
I read this almost six months back and I was definitely not interested in watching another movie about infidelity. It was such a surprise to see how the story was handled.
Spoiler Alert: I can’t stop discussing the movie, so if you want to watch it please stop right here :)
Keira Knightley and Sam Worthington star as Joanna and Michael, a married couple living in NYC. They have been married four years. At a party, she meets his colleague Laura (Eva Mendes) and immediately suspects foul play. They go home later that evening and argue over the obvious question — did he, or didn’t he?
They settle their argument and the following day, The next morning he heads off on a business trip with… go on, guess :). Meanwhile she pops out for coffee and, as fate would have it, is reunited with an estranged lover, suave Parisian Alex (Guillame Canet). They make plans to have dinner later that evening where we are left to question — will she, or won’t she?
The remainder of the movie flips back and forth between the four of them as we see the games they play.
Last Night was heartbreaking for me. Watching the events unfold between these people and getting invested in whether or not they succeeded or failed as couples was emotionally exhausting. And really, there was no right answer.
And I think that says a lot about the directing, the writing and the stars. Guillaume Canet was a bit of a weasel but he was so charming that you can’t not like him. The chemistry between him and Knightley was very real. I was rooting for the husband to cheat because then she could be with Alex. I know it’s morally wrong but they seem so perfect for each other, the poet and the writer.
But in the end when you think about it, she was the one who actually cheated on her husband even though he slept with the other woman. He was not contemplating on leaving his wife for this woman. For him it was just another night. For her, as she so eloquently puts it “whenever we have problems in our marriage, I think about you”. That statement sums it all up.
What worked best about Last Night for me was that it was real and natural. These characters could have been anyone I know. The situation in which they found themselves could have happened to anyone. The movie was a portrait of one night in the lives of these four characters that I just happened to be sharing.
Finally, its done. I wanted to write about this movie for almost a month but dint find time. I will be back with another review soon :)
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