Eroticism and Hard Candy

So I always wanted to do one of those essays at Uni. This of course is nothing like an essay.

I was watching this movie Hard Candy last night. I love it. I've seen it three times and unless you watch it every day (don't recommend doing that for any movie; you see I have to say DPS is a little ruined for me now- insert sad face)..and so unless you watch Hard Candy everyday, it will always get to you.

What's it about? Ellen Page pre Juno mega fame plays a 14 year old girl who contacts this older man she's been communicating with online. He's played by Patrick Wilson who if you have ever seen Little Children (another good movie and it's got Kate Winslet) is quite lush.

Now Wilson's Jeff knows how young this girl is. I think he has also been linked to other young girls. He also photographs models for a living.

Page plays Hayley who starts off different. And then the movie takes a turn. I won't ruin it but I will say it's intelligent, provocative not in the way you think, tense, a little horrific (not Saw but I mean one certain scene; ouch!!) and best of all it plays with your mind.

The movie is not only beautifully directed but it allows the audience to play along, think and question themselves.

A young girl is a young girl no matter if she imitates a woman as said in the movie. I believe in rules and morals and humanity. I think we should never be complacent about abuse to another living thing. We should also know what abuse is. And I believe in adults taking responsibility over consensual, non consensual.

But I believe in underage, rape, REALLY taboo being explored via role plays, writing. And I'll talk about incest another time.

Hard Candy is erotic. And I think it is also dementedly romantic. At one point Jeff says to Hayley she can cry, scream let it all out, if she wants he can hold or he will keep his distance. Hayley knows her own mind, she is very independent and she is initially shy around him, with actually I felt it initially comes across as nervous energy. And he is calmer and mature. And then he has this clearly perverse side. Their conversation flows about music, books, there's light kind of friendly teasing between these two characters. Not just players in a game but fully dimensional characters. And when things get going there's heat and I know it's not just me who found their interactions erotic on a certain level. For some people it could be the interactions in themselves and for me it was the level each went to. In some weird demented way at one point they could have been perfect together. But they were not at all, that's the thing. To go into that would be going into the movie. So just watch it.

In the end the movie was more about something else. Along the way all these issues are raised. Amazing how much you can talk about this movie. Debate, talk, think, re think, go back to it. Honesty is key.