DEAD CALM: Settle a Debate
Jordan Fields
I recently had an argument with my cousins about the film "Dead Calm."
In a nutshell, it was my contention that there was some ambiguity as to
whether the character played by Nicole Kidman "enjoyed" the seduction of
Hughie (Billy Zane). I put enjoy in quotes because, while I wouldn't say
she had feelings for Hughie, I do think she welcomed the passion that was
so clearly lacking in her marriage to the character played by Sam Neill.
And I'm not even saying she definitely enjoyed it; all I'm saying is that
there was some ambiguity about it. But my cousins say no, she did it to
save her life (which I agree with) and she most certainly did not get into
it. They said that any assertion of ambiguity speaks more to my own
psychological bent than to any reality in the movie. I said I didn't think
I was the only one who perceived the rape/seduction in this way; there were
others, I was sure.
Are there?
Mike ---- Schneider
You are way off base here, Nicole Kidman's character did not "enjoy the
seduction" only because she was doing the seducing. Becuase Zane's
character was physically stronger then her; sex/deception was her only
weapon against him. She did not enjoy, her only motivation was to save her
husband.
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fo...@sjmvm2.sanjose.ibm.com
didn't cross my mind while watching the movie. After all
Billy Zane's character was pretty difficult not to like,
regardless of what brutal acts he may have committed on
the other boat.
And I won't deny the fact that it was (and still is) a
kind of turn-on to think that she may have enjoyed it all
along. But where the movie is concerned, I do not believe
that her character was supposed to have enjoyed it, nor
do I believe the filmmakers intended us to think so,
especially when you catch that final, fleeting shot of
Nicole Kidman's face as Hughie goes to work--it's clear
she is not enjoying it, but pretending to do so against
her tears.
Name Withheld For Obvious Reasons
nm...@uwpg02.uwinnipeg.ca
Well maybe we are bent in the same way but I felt that there
was an element of response in this scene as well. The violence
that he presents is seductive. What I remember is that she was
not as much trying to save herself as much as she needed to be
free in order to resuce her husband off of the sinking ship.
Mir