Compulsion

The story of two disturbed women whose lives end up intertwining. Or to be precise, one obsessive and possibly delusional woman and another who simply has had a hard life. When the psychotic of the two, Amy, develops a fascination with her reclusive neighbour, Saffron, she shows it through trying to push her love of food on to her. What follows is a rather bizarre but intriguing series of events.

A great aspect of this film is that I believe it's open to interpretation. Amy clearly doesn't have the tightest grip on reality, in fact we are often shown glimpses into her head where an imaginary audience is cheering her on. Combine this with the plot and characters going in the strangest of directions and the sceptical comments of a particular other character and the film raises the question of how much of it is in Amy's head and how much of it is simply events going in such a unique way.

Admittedly, this film is probably a bit of an acquired taste(ha, get it). It's labelled a thriller, which is partly true but the vast majority of it is a character study. If you like analysing the mindsets of flawed characters, this film is for you. Worth re-watching if you want to look at things from a different angle.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this movie. I was exhausted from work and felt like watching a predictable horror movie. This is not at all a thriller or a horror movie. It is actually an interesting buddy film between two damaged women who crave what they can't have--love. One tries to find fulfillment through cooking and baking and serving gourmet meals, compulsively nurturing, and another who is desperate for a nurturer, a bulimic who is unable to eat. It is visually very interesting. Amy (Heather Graham, whom I thought was fantastic)and her TV dreams are reminiscent of Nicole Kidman and TO DIE FOR; the bright colors of her dress against the sterile white fake TV set contrast with dark, dreary tones of her idol and then friend Saffron (Moss). I really enjoyed the lush, gorgeous meals Amy created, at first trying to woo Saffron as a friend and then, sensing Saffron's despondency and loneliness much like her own, attempting to sustain her through food and create some kind of sensuous joy for her. The ending makes this a black comedy, if one needs to label it. The writing is clunky and personally I would have enjoyed seeing a couple more scenes showing development of this friendship but filling in the blanks is fun, too.

An enjoyable little film full of the kind of intense and intimate relationships that you normally only find on a stage. Hopefully that will be enough to set the scene as Compulsion is not really a film, its a theater production put on to film.

Compulsion is two stories that unravel and then combine to become one as you really only get the second story after being fully immersed in the fervor and passion of Amy (Heather Graham). Heather Graham appears to have added more a little Nigella Lawson (Youtube her) to her depiction of a voluptuous gastronome desperately seeking acknowledgement and love.

So too does the other leading character Saffron bring a fine set of hang ups and issues played by Carrie Anne Moss.

Both lead actresses set the movie apart from ennui with excellent portrayals of their characters and through their selling of the story. They also looks fantastic (which can't be bad!).

If you take the movie for the play that it is, rather than the blockbuster you might be hoping for, then you should get on fine.

'Compulsion' focuses on Heather Graham's character 'Amy', a woman obsessed with cooking, who gets by seducing wealthy men with her looks and her food. It could sound like a typical Heather Graham role, but it's not. This is a Graham we have not seen before, and she is altogether delightful. The plot is simple: a detective is investigating the disappearance of Amy's next door neighbor 'Saffron' played by Carrie-Anne Moss a reclusive former child star, and we see the relationship of Amy and Saffron develop in retrospect.

It is not a fast paced film, but like a fine meal the performances are there to be savored, in small bites, taken in slowly to relish each nuance.

I see why it gets bad reviews as this aims to a very limited audience. If you thought this was going to be a fun and wacky chick flick with traditionally sympathetic characters, you were horribly, horribly wrong.

Everything but the script is damn near perfect, and the script is not terrible either. Not fantastic, but hand in hand with the good acting, fitting soundtrack and beautiful cinematography; it's a very enjoyable film.

IF you're the target audience.

If you're looking for something that dares be different from the rest of the lot, this movie is for you! Also, Joe Mantegna plays a detective in this. If you're a Criminal Minds fan you could watch it just to get a kick out of thinking of it as a crossover between this film and CM.