I was recommended to watch this film by a friend, who refused to give me her own opinion on it lest I be swayed or, more likely, in case I hated it and then felt afraid to write this or say what I thought...
I'm still not sure how much I liked this film, its serious and intense, really intense. Reminds me of Closer, where you slightly question your own views and morals, and become absorbed in the relationships.
In synopsis then, we have the central characters Jo and Michael, played by Keira Knightley and Sam Worthington. They seem typical, Jo gets ready for a staff party of her husbands in under a minute, no thought or care to how she looks or what she is wearing, so the two are obviously comfortable enough for her not to dress up. Then at said party Jo notices a woman, Eva Mendes, a colleague of Michael's who is obviously a very attractive woman, and attracted to her husband. A fight at home ensues, with Michael being forced to admit he does feel attracted toward his co-worker, with whom he is going on a business trip the next day.
Michael goes to to Philadelphia and has to come to terms with his feelings, while at home his wife meets an old flame on the street and spends time with him, now having to face her own unanswered questions and emotions.
I won't spoil the end, but suffice to say I felt it was an honest portrait of what could happen. While looking it up I came across a review which gave the film one star because they felt the end had destroyed a perfectly good film. I am inclined to disagree. It is the end which makes the previous hour and a half that much more believable, because you do not know what is going to happen. Rather like the end of Love and Other Drugs as much as you want to know what happens next, there is a reason fairytales end with "and they lived happily ever after", because the truth is you don't need to know. Neither Last Night or Love and Other Drugs could possibly have a 'happily ever after' in the true fairytale sense of an easy life with no worries, but a director is wise to cut the film off at a certain point so the audience can create their own ending.
The acting I felt was superb, and it is nice to hear Knightley and Worthington's own accents. Set in New York it is entirely feasible for an English woman and Australian man to be living and working in the city, especially when one is a writer. It is also believable that a Parisian in the form of Guillaume Canet would be in town, as a writer himself, and come to see his former love once more.
I am slightly in love with monsieur Canet, he is a jewel in French acting and directing, and his partner is Marion Cotillard who I think is probably one of the most beautiful people ever and a fantastic actress. A very talented pair. Canet's weight in French cinema is such that I knew his role at least would not be generic or the film flimsy. His and Knightley's relationship is kind of beautiful, and I found myself entirely torn about what I wanted to happen. They have passion and friendship for each other, and I smiled when they smiled.
Worthington and Mendes relationship provoked the opposite reaction in me. I was willing the husband to not become a cliche and hating Mendes for being provocative. Entirely irrational, why should I support the wife and her indiscretion and not the husband? Neither have been honest with each other, or to themselves, and you feel certain situations would not come up had they just communicated with one another. Had Jo told Michael about Alex and her time with him in Paris perhaps she would have held on less to her feelings for the Frenchman, and had Michael been open with Jo about the attractiveness of his co-worker she would have been prepared at the party and he could have dealt with his feelings instead of bottling them.
It is a well written and carefully directed film, a true drama. I think it is quite hard to find good drama not on stage, where you can become swept up in the emotion without feeling like it is being thrown at you. And that was how I felt while watchin Last Night, I became engrossed, all of my senses focused on the screen. It could make a good play.
It isn't a film I would watch again, but I enjoyed it, as much as you can enjoy seeing lives fray in front of you. The performances were all believable, and the stories too, because people lie, they conceal their pasts, and nobody is entirely honest with anybody, except perhaps their psychiatrists. It is a cautionary tale, be honest with yourself and your partner, or there will be consequences you may not want to deal with.
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