Long Synopsis
I. PAUL & AMANDA
After having sex with his wife Amanda (Gina Bellman), Paul (Paolo
Seganti) reveals that he saw an ex-girlfriend in a yoghurt
commercial on TV earlier in the evening. His throwaway postcoital
comment
spirals into a full-blown dissection of what such reminiscences
conjure within the sensibilities of a married man and the inferno
of jealousy that it ignites within his wife. Amanda demands
more information about the ex, who was she, what did she do,
even the yoghurt she was eating in the commercial. She irrationally
makes him remove the television set from the bedroom upon discovering
that he watched the said commercial while she was running the
bath they made love in, as though it inspired his amorous actions.
Danny (Ben Daniels) is fleetingly introduced as he rides his
motorbike brashly through London to a backdrop of classical music.
He arrives at a nightclub; walks through the hordes, disregarding
all except one woman who is dancing alone. She turns to face
him and their eyes lock. They ride off together on his bike and
we cut to them having sex.
II. KIM & AMANDA
Kim (Kristen McMenamy) sits in a café with Amanda. Talking
in riddles, she reveals to Amanda that though her she is happy
enough with Danny she is waiting for the time when she can be
with another man. Annoyed, as she is concerned with her own marital
problem, Amanda asks if Kim is going to leave her boyfriend.
Kim vehemently denies this telling her she loves Danny, that
he is her man, but that when the ‘moment’ changes,
she will be ready to be with another.
While Amanda retreats to the toilets, Kim is seated alone in
the café. From outside, a strange little man (Denis Lavant)
appears at the window, staring lovingly at Kim through the glass.
She is taken aback upon seeing him and a flashback reveals that
they had collided with each other in the street earlier that
day, magnetised by each other they stare into each other’s
eyes while dusting themselves down. Fearful of seeing him again
Kim hurriedly changes seats.
When Amanda re-emerges and sits back down with Kim at the new
seating location, she explains how Paul saw his ex-girlfriend
in yoghurt commercial and that it fuelled a violent jealousy
within her. Inspired by Amanda’s honesty, Kim reveals how
she misses the early days of her relationship with Danny, before
Paul and Amanda were married, when the men would play Backgammon
all night while they slept waiting for them to finish. She recalls
that Danny would wake her when the game was over, either gently
if he’d won or aggressively if he’d lost. She then
reveals that on one occasion she was wakened by Paul and on seeing
him standing before her she was filled with the desire to take
him into her mouth and force him down her throat.
III. DANNY & KIM
Within the cold, modern interior of Danny’s apartment a
dinner for two has been prepared. Seated at a steel table and
drinking from silver goblets, Danny and Kim eat methodically.
From the early exchanges of pleasant small talk, Danny becomes
more threatening towards Kim when she asks if he will accompany
her to a family get-together. She argues that ‘it’s
what couples do’, Danny answers that he is not a couple
and states that he is a ‘me’. She is unable to eat
anymore and lights a cigarette, pushing her plate away. He tells
her to show him some respect while he is still eating and put
the cigarette out. She holds his eyes as if trying to stand up
to him and brazenly stubs the cigarette out into the risotto
he prepared. He continues eating and when she tries to leave
the table he demands she sit back down. There is a controlling
aggression in his voice that fearfully makes her obey. He pushes
her plate back to her, asks her to eat some more. She protests
that there is a cigarette in the food and he smiles and telling
her that she likes cigarettes. Broken, she scoops a mouthful
of risotto and he smiles with the pleasure of a manipulator.
He finishes his food victoriously and takes his plate into the
kitchen. She immediately lights another cigarette, but he aggressively
stomps back out and snatches it from her mouth, demanding she
thank him for doing so. Weak and scared, she thanks him, and
feeding on this vulnerability, he seizes the moment to talk about
his sexual needs and alludes to a previously performed sexual
act. She instantly refuses but he destroys her with misogynistic
reasoning by telling her that he dislikes her taste and smell
but tolerates it for her pleasure and she should therefore reciprocate
his desires. Despite Kim’s anguish Danny rages that she
should either do what he asks or leave. Broken, she disappears
into the bathroom re emerging in the guise of an over made up
beauty pageant contestant to satiate his fetish. Shining a torch
into her face and demanding she grotesquely re-apply heavier
lipstick to her mouth, Kim delivers crass ‘Miss World’ lines,
prompted and corrected by him. As Kim’s tears fall and
fear overwhelms her, Danny approaches and roughly takes her.
IV. PAUL & DANNY
Paul and Danny sit on a sofa watching a porn film together. For
Paul, it seems like time has stood still, that there has to
be more to their life and friendship than sitting watching
something as tawdry as this. For Danny, it remains fascinating,
women objectified for the sole purpose of male pleasure.
They go to a bar. Danny identifies that perhaps after only seven
months marital life is already becoming a strain on Paul. He
refutes this, attempts to flip the attack by questioning why
he is still dating Kim when he clearly has no love or regard
for her and that his infidelity is not fair on her.
Many drinks later, Paul confesses that he was aroused upon seeing
his ex-girlfriend on TV but that he cannot understand why. She
meant nothing to him then, but seeing her again made him crave
for the way he was before he was married, the freedom to have
a woman like her with no guilt and no commitment. Danny tells
him to find the woman and that he can still be the way he once
was, but Paul is dismissive. It is the thought that he can’t
have anyone else that makes him feel this way.
On the way home Paul questions Danny about his misogyny. In
a startling monologue, Danny confesses that he feels a slight
revile towards women. He talks about his contempt for Kim and
reveals that he has no love for her. He talks about his desires,
the increasing sexual extremities he seeks and he chillingly
reveals that after sex he wants the woman dead.
Two small scenes are intercut. The first features Amanda sitting
on a train staring at a middle-aged passenger that sits opposite
her. He is oblivious to her stare at first, then notices her.
Holding his eyes, she slowly opens her legs inviting him to look.
She hurriedly gets off at the next stop leaving him looking on.
She walks through a long hotel corridor and enters a room with
a card key. She draws the curtains and sits inertly on the bed,
a gold crucifix on the wall behind her. She cries.
The second scene features Paul in an art gallery. He studies
a painting and is joined by an attractive woman (Lidija Zovkic)
who views the same piece. Her voiceover reveals that she is the
woman he saw on TV. She asks him why he called her and tracked
her down. They sit in her white apartment and sip a drink. She
undresses in front of him and retreats to the bedroom, Paul follows
her, staring at her as she reclines on the bed. After a matter
of moments he leaves the apartment abruptly.
V. AMANDA & DANNY
Tethered to the hotel bed by her feet and hands Amanda lies naked
face down. Danny emerges from the bathroom while towelling
himself down. He views her contemptuously, pulls out a pocket-knife
and approaches Amanda to cut her free. She painfully sits up
and tells him she’s bleeding (from her anus). He is cutting
and cold, mocking her affections and marriage to Paul, despising
her for doing this to her husband and his best friend. Amanda
tries to get out of bed but cannot find her clothes. Danny
tells her he threw out the window so that she would have to
indignantly scuttle out to retrieve them. When she asks him
what he used to enter her and why she is still bleeding, he
gestures to where the crucifix once hung above the bed. Amanda
attempts to get back at Danny by saying that Kim wants to leave
him but he dismisses all of this and tells her he doesn’t
care for Kim or for her, and that he only cares for Paul. Danny
grabs Amanda kissing her violently and she spits into his face.
He punches her hard. He calls Kim from the room phone, questioning
where she is and what she’s doing. Kim sits alone at
a café but reacts when an unseen guest joins her and
makes her laugh. Retrieving Amanda’s clothes, Danny now
behaves tenderly towards her telling her to get dressed and
that he’ll give her a ride home. She painfully tells
him that she loves him and he tells her that Paul loves her.
Amanda stands in the shower, thoughts of Paul and Danny shrouding
her mind. She lifts a pair of scissors to her breast and cuts
off her nipple.
VI. ALL TOGETHER
This is the only scene where all four characters appear together,
and in turn there is no dialogue except for single sporadic
sound bites. Arriving at an opulent restaurant to celebrate
Paul & Amanda’s first anniversary the couples drink
champagne, eat, open gifts and indulge in a chocolate cake
food fight. There is also a brief insight into Kim thinking
back to the day when Danny had called her from the hotel. We
see that she is sitting alone at a café, but is joined
by Denis Lavant’s character who makes her laugh.
The scene continues in Paul and Amanda’s apartment, the
men getting stoned while watching Amanda and Kim slow-dance together.
Danny intervenes, manipulating them into kissing each other before
taking over kissing Kim while Amanda returns to Paul on the couch.
They watch as Danny undresses Kim, pushes her to the floor and
fucks her in front of them. When he has climaxed Danny gestures
for Paul to take over and in an almost hypnotic state Paul makes
his way towards Kim. Horrified, Amanda looks on screams as Paul
climaxes.
On a deserted street, a numb and bedraggled Kim staggers aimlessly
barefoot.
VII. KIM AND PAUL
Paul is jogging in a park, he has a beard and his hair longer,
it is apparent that time has passed. Panting, Paul stops and
notices Kim standing by a tree watching him. They walk through
the park. She tells him she saw him accidentally one day while
driving and that she followed him into this park. She’s
been coming back each week to watch him jog but has been unable
to approach him. It’s evident that his marriage ended
and he tells her he’s seeing someone else. She asks him
whether he would’ve allowed Danny to take over fucking
Amanda if she on the floor that night instead of her. He says
no. She wants to know why Danny did such a thing to her, and
why he joined in. He tries to explain that they were drunk
and stoned, but she dismisses this and tells him that neither
of them had been more sober than at that precise moment. She
tells him she’s pregnant but refutes any offer from Paul
to help. He asks her what she wants from him, why she came
here, and she tells him she wants to leave Danny but doesn’t
have the strength to do it on her own. Despite everything,
Paul is unable to encourage her to leave him, as if still being
loyal to his friend. She explains that she has met someone
else – and we see a small insert revealing her kissing
Denis Lavant. He holds her, tells her to go. When she asks
where, he tells her to go to love. As if she has been given
the keys to her freedom, Kim walks away. Paul continues jogging
in the opposite direction. Wedding bells chime out from a church
in the distance.
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