I saw this at the weekend and was left a little uncomfortable at the way it ended. Needless to say, spoilers abound in this post.
For the first two thirds of the film, it seems to be a thoughtful exploration of how someone who is a paedophile but who knows that it is wrong (or at least knows that and understands why society says it is wrong) would deal with that internal conflict. The assumption is that paedophilia is some kind of illness (I don't see how the film works at all if this is not the case), and that the protagonist, Walter, is an otherwise good man who is horribly afflicted by this illness and is trying to deal.
Then, just before the end, Walter does two things: he submits to temptation and approaches an 11 year old girl in the park and attempted to molest her, only to back off "compassionately" once it becomes apparent that she is being molested by her own father; and he brutally assaults and beats a man who he (and we) believe to be a paedophile just as he is returning one of his young male victims to the street.
The effect of these two instances (which occurr on the same afternoon) is apparently either to cure Walter, or to give us and him hope that he will be able to live a normal life (defined earlier in the film as being around a young girl and not feeling attracted to her). A policeman who has been perdiodically, cruelly and very stagily harrassing walter throughout the film calls to his appartment one last time and appears to congratulate him for beating up the other paedophile, and then Walter moves in with his new girlfriend. Roll credits.
I was really at a loss at this point as to where the film had just gone. If it was premised on the argument that paedophilia is a disease, then this was a ludicrously simplistic denouement, and if I had misconstrued the premise, then the way it curried sympathy for Walter was a little creepy, to be honest. Either way, what had appeared to be a thoughful, interesting film really blew it for me in those last few scenes.
Very well acted, shot and directed though, and I loved the score. Has anyone else seen this?
For the first two thirds of the film, it seems to be a thoughtful exploration of how someone who is a paedophile but who knows that it is wrong (or at least knows that and understands why society says it is wrong) would deal with that internal conflict. The assumption is that paedophilia is some kind of illness (I don't see how the film works at all if this is not the case), and that the protagonist, Walter, is an otherwise good man who is horribly afflicted by this illness and is trying to deal.
Then, just before the end, Walter does two things: he submits to temptation and approaches an 11 year old girl in the park and attempted to molest her, only to back off "compassionately" once it becomes apparent that she is being molested by her own father; and he brutally assaults and beats a man who he (and we) believe to be a paedophile just as he is returning one of his young male victims to the street.
The effect of these two instances (which occurr on the same afternoon) is apparently either to cure Walter, or to give us and him hope that he will be able to live a normal life (defined earlier in the film as being around a young girl and not feeling attracted to her). A policeman who has been perdiodically, cruelly and very stagily harrassing walter throughout the film calls to his appartment one last time and appears to congratulate him for beating up the other paedophile, and then Walter moves in with his new girlfriend. Roll credits.
I was really at a loss at this point as to where the film had just gone. If it was premised on the argument that paedophilia is a disease, then this was a ludicrously simplistic denouement, and if I had misconstrued the premise, then the way it curried sympathy for Walter was a little creepy, to be honest. Either way, what had appeared to be a thoughful, interesting film really blew it for me in those last few scenes.
Very well acted, shot and directed though, and I loved the score. Has anyone else seen this?
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