The Gift
An example of ignorant, lazy, misogynistic film making.
I'll warn you now, this movie made me angry, and as a result, I’m going to spoil the shit out of it by the end of this review. Only read the last two paragraphs if you don’t mind having the endgame of this movie ruined for you.
The Gift is actor Joel Edgerton’s first attempt at directing a movie (previously penning the screenplays for three others), and to a point, he does a fair, if at times pedestrian, job. The scene is set as a young successful couple (played by Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall) move into their new house in L.A. following some undisclosed events earlier in their lives. Pretty soon you know things aren't 100% perfect, as an old school friend (played by writer/director Edgerton) turns up acting rather weird, and slowly the narrative starts to reveal that our perfect couple aren't quite so perfect after all.
Is the old school friend really a psycho, or is it all in the head of the pill-popping, secretive wife? Is the husband living in denial over the slowly revealed events of way back in high school, or did he actually orchestrate them? The Gift tries, and for the most part, succeeds in dealing with some pretty heavy subject matter like guilt, truth and lies, redemption, bullying (both as children and adults), and these themes, mixed with the more traditional tropes of the psychological stalker/slasher movie (missing/ murdered pets, anonymous messages, shadowy half figures seen through misty glass etc.), make for an interesting, mildly brain engaging tale, where the reveals and twists are dealt with deftly if not with flourish, by this first time writer/director.
However as the movie draws to it's conclusion, and we, the viewers, start to approach the 'Sixth Sense' moment of ultimate reveal, it turns out that Edgerton thought it would be a really good idea to use the rape of the female lead as a plot device. It's not OK to glamorise rape. It’s not OK to sensationalise rape. And it sure as hell is not OK to use rape as a revenge plot device for one of your male characters over another, regardless of the story you're trying to tell, and with zero regard for the true victim of the supposed act, but instead dwelling on the devastation it may cause to the husband of the victim.
We're supposed to feel sorry for this shit-heel at the end because his wife's been raped and the child she’s just given birth to might not be his? Bollocks. What about the real victim of this? Nah, it's alright, she doesn't really matter to the story, does she? Mr. Edgerton may argue that the finale is open ended enough for it to be interpreted that the rape did not occur, and the deception and manipulation of events is a theme that runs through the entire movie. I, for one, am entirely uncomfortable with this as a concept, and if that's the case then I think I would have rather not been subjected to this example of ignorant, lazy, misogynistic film making in the first place.
