A very depressing movie throughout. There is no horror scene, but my scalp is numb when I see it. Those shots that I even thought were the network was not good for a few seconds, appeared a lot in this film. The almost perverted love of alme and Reynolds, the desire to control and be controlled, and the tension of those rabble-drawn emotions all show great tension.
The hardest and most subtle part of the film's structure is the "triangle" of Alma, sister Cycil and Reynolds. Especially the role of sister Cycil, Cycil has never been married, and on the surface, she has completely dedicated herself to Reynolds without any regrets. But some details show her repression of Reynolds. Cycil, who is usually dignified and intellectual, ended the conversation with Reynolds with the sentence "If you dare to do this, I will make you die."
Reynolds is of course at the center of the conflict, as can be seen in some of the words alme described him as "demanding", "fussy" and "bully". He's like a brilliant tyrant. He is picky, indifferent to people, and domineering, but at the same time vulnerable and sensitive. In the end, his vulnerable side overcomes all stubbornness, and he indulges in the experience of weakness brought by poison. He succumbed, succumbed to Alma, who was good at controlling people's hearts, and this ending was reasonable.
As for Alma, she seems to be a being sent from heaven to subdue Reynolds. She loved to laugh, to eat and to make noise, she said, an outlier in this big, cold house. At the same time, she tied Reynolds tightly with love and poison... Reynolds originally wanted to use his own rules to restrain her, but finally fell into the abyss himself. Many people may think that Alme is very scheming and vicious, but who is a pure and perfect person in the whole film?
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