Allure (2017)
A house cleaner meets a teenaged girl and convinces her to run away and live with her in secret.
Stars:
Plagued by the abuse of her past and the turmoil of failed intimate
encounters, Laura struggles to find a lover and a sense of normalcy. Her
beacon of hope comes in sixteen year-old Eva, a talented pianist
disillusioned by the life her mother imposes upon her. An unlikely
relationship is formed between the two and Eva becomes an obsession to
Laura. In light of Eva's unhappiness, Laura convinces her to runaway to
her house and they soon find themselves caught within an intense
entanglement. Manipulation, denial and codependency fuel what ultimately
becomes a fractured dynamic that can only sustain itself for so long.
Country:
CanadaLanguage:
EnglishRelease Date:
6 April 2018 (Canada) See more »Also Known As:
A Worthy Companion See more »Filming Locations:
Montréal, Québec, CanadaCompany Credits
Production Co:
The encounter clearly has left her hunger unabated. In the morning,
she goes to a new client’s house. Going about her chores, she encounters
Eva (Julia Sarah Stone),
a waifish 16-year-old who cheerlessly practices classical music on a
piano. There is a “For Sale” on the front lawn and it turns out Eva’s
distant and demanding mother (Maxim Roy)
plans on them moving in with her latest boyfriend—a decision that
dismays her daughter. After checking her lipstick in the bathroom mirror
she has just wiped down, Laura ambles into Eva’s room, smiles and
compliments her on a Nirvana poster on her wall. The teen lights up from
the attention, and soon she and the 30-ish hired hand are knocking back
screwdrivers in Laura’s nondescript living room. Eva sleeps over on a
basement couch and soon matters grow a great deal more complicated from
there as the plot meanders into “Misery”-like kidnapping territory.
Wood, whose whippet-thin appearance in this dank noir-ish drama semi-draped in mystery could be described as Kristen Stewart
lite, fully dedicates herself to embodying a rather unpleasant and
contradictory character as she attracts her prey and then goes about
abusing them physically and emotionally. After meeting her father (the
terrific character actor Denis O’Hare), whose gaunt features suggest
he’s haunted by the past, we learn that he is also Laura’s employer and
basically supports her. Does that suggest he is guilty about something?
Signs point to yes.
Their strained current relationship—they
rather pathetically go to happy hour after work with other employees and
never crack a smile—suggests that daddy dearest might be at the root of
her sociopathic and destructive nature. Despite Wood’s best efforts, I
couldn’t manage much sympathy for her manic-depressive Laura, even after
the reason for her less-than-savory approach to sex is eventually
explained. As for Stone, her good-at-heart Eva’s motives for sticking
around, even after it is clear her succubus-like captor has issues up
the wazoo, are never wholly believable. At one point, she almost makes a
getaway on a public bus and it was all I could do to not yell “Go
already!”
The utterly humorless script of “Allure” often makes for uneasy
viewing. Not even breaks for go-kart racing and karaoke (Stone’s wan
take on Madonna’s “Material Girl” doesn’t even lead to a chuckle)
provide relief. But at least Carlos and Jason Sanchez,
Montreal-based sibling photographers whose well-regarded work emulates
movie stills, know their way around visual atmospherics with glowing red
lights and shadowy environs while keeping sunlight to a minimum. One of
their best decisions while shooting in their hometown was to start with
the damp chill of autumn and end with a full-on blizzard. Also, the
darkness of the season often makes Laura’s rectangular box of an abode
feel almost tomb-like—a nice touch.
If “Allure” were indeed more
alluring, I probably wouldn’t have flinched so much at Laura and Eva’s
awkward bedroom encounters. But it takes a better movie than this to
justify exploiting the sight of the child-like Stone being pawed by the
ravenous Wood, even if her character treats her more like a pet than a
person. One thing the Sanchez brothers do get right? They know how to
start with a bang and end on one. Here’s hoping they learn how to better
flesh out the narrative in between.
Thanks for reading and have fun watching movies.
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