Bandaged

At first, it was really interesting. The daughter tried to unalive herself, so her father got her a beautiful nurse to take care of her! :D

But when the nurse came, all of a sudden, they both found a deep interest in one another- like a snap of the fingers which put me way off guard. If this weren't the case, some of the scenes they tried to portray would resonate stronger with us if their relationship was gradually built up. I genuinely disliked that aspect of the movie, and it could have been much better.

Although the background music added a pleasant touch to the overall experience, and the cinematography was aesthetically pleasing.

Consider watching it only if your sole interest lies in softcore adult content. That's all I can say.

I went into this movie thinking it would be in the same vein as the 1990 adaptation of "Misery" by Stephen King, but there's practically no resemblance at all, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Bandaged is essentially about a 17-year-old girl, Lucille (convincingly played by Janna Lisa Dombrowsky) who has been sheltered from the outside world by her over-protective father, Arthur (Hans Piesbergen), who just happens to be a skilled surgeon.

Lucille loves poetry and wishes to be released from her "prison" to attend college and further her poetic studies but her father refuses. Feeling alone in her own home, Lucille attempts suicide but only succeeds in disfiguring herself.

Enter Susanne Sachsse as forty-something nurse Joan Genova, who Arthur hires to be Lucille's convalescent aide and to assist him in reconstructing Lucille's scarred face. There is an immediate attraction between Lucille and her caregiver and the rest of the film tastefully explores the trials and tribulations of lesbianism, isolation, despair, cadaver experimentation, etc. in an isolated Gothic manor.

All-in-all, Bandaged is a beautifully-filmed and very well-written movie with excellent acting from the entire cast.

I was surprised at the very low score of this movie. It seemed like it would not warrant such a low score. I was proved wrong.

The movie is basically a softcore porno. The character development and acting is on par with a porno. The writing and dialogue is on par with a porno. The cinematography is a small cut above a porno. The sex scenes are a cut below a porno.

I could go into more depth on the reasoning behind those four statements, but it seems pointless to reenact the movie in my head. I'll just say that the dad in the movie acts cartoonishly evil. The nurse is very poorly developed and comes off as an implausible character. The daughter seems to have rapid changes in character shift for no apparent reason. And the other characters are essentially beside the point.

I started off on Maria Beatty's fetish films, gothic and black and white. She has a powerful eye for looking beneath the sex and showing the need, desire and power dynamics. She knows how to work with the actors to show honest performances rather than burlesques of D/s; how to focus on the faces, limbs and fingers where the story is told rather than the actions.

I felt a little nervous going into a feature film of hers but also pretty confident that she would pull it off...which she did.

Even from the first encounter, where Joan touches Lucille's face, you can physically feel the tension between them. It drips with desire but at the same time, its understated and true. Because of the stifling claustrophobia built up from start, the light in Lucille's eyes illuminates the whole room as the look at each other. The script and Beatty's direction bring this off as the alchemy that love is - ethereal and organic.

The power dynamics between the couple are interesting; bring up what the nature of care is. Given that Lucille is "bound" to the bed you expect that Joan would be the dominant one but that's not the case. Lucille is calling the shots as she does when she tells Joan to wash her feet "like you did the last time" and Joan carries out her command. This plays out in the actual bondage scene where Lucille ties up Joan and forces her to tell her just how much she's really devoted to her.

The only thing I can quibble about is Joan's backstory which could have been fleshed out more. It's not clear whether Joan is a true angel of mercy or a serial killer, insinuating herself into families and profiting off the euthanizing of the loved one. It's also not clear if she seduces all her female patients. The backstory seems to exist only to get into the third act to raise the stakes higher. This also might be one of the rare films in which the male character is an underwritten character much like females characters are so...good for the writer!

Still, it's not really about that. The story it tells is wonderful and disturbing.