For Matty, procuring the dream is better than living it

There is so much meaning that can be culled from a gesture, the look in ones eyes, or the inflection present in a
single spoken word. Such is the case with Matty at the end of this remarkable film, where she gives us so much
food for thought with a single word and a momentary glance. She has triumphed and against all odds realised her
dreams of riches and luxury in an exotic locale; she should be delirious with satisfaction and savoring the
fruits of her ill-gotten gains that she assiduously devoted so many years scheming, planning, and eventually
murdering for. And yet, when her handsome young boy toy speaks to Matty at her recently hard won paradise, she
responds to him with a single curt word, "what", that is rife with sourness, dissatisfaction, and a touch of
hostility. She then gazes off into the pristine ocean waters with a look that hints at a mind taxed with a degree
of uncertainty, unease, and perhaps even a sense of regret - what a fascinating note to end this film on, and such
an interesting observation of human nature and comment on the human condition.

So often in life we yearn, hunger for, and covet things which we are certain will bring us complete satisfaction
and pleasure, sometimes for many years or even a lifetime, and if we finally succeed in acquiring what we yearned
for find that the desire and craving for a dream is far more intoxicating and stimulating than the actual
realisation of it - it appears that Matty is no exception to this rule. She has spent so many years ruthlessly
driving herself toward this goal with every ounce of her being, bartering her body and soul in the process,
yet once she actually realises her dream and settles into her new "paradise" it proves essentially to be a
soft, banal, predictable, and boring existence for such a tenacious, energetic, driven, voracious individual.
How can this sedate, predictable life compare to her times with Ned, as their explosive sexual appetites and
complimentary personalities played out against the seething Florida heat; fear, danger, duplicity, risk, murder,
betrayal, suspicion, and blinding sexual hunger became the everyday tableau of her life - she certainly never
lived more fully or vibrantly as when she and Ned traversed the moral razor's edge and committed the ultimate
crime. Now her reward is to stare day in, day out at the surf with men who cannot possibly replicate the heat
and the passion that she has experienced with Ned. She has what she yearned for, but it is anti-climatic for her;
a soft, hollow reward compared to the wild, thrilling ride of danger, risk, and sexual energy that led up to her
"triumph".

She will never have the passion and intoxicating connection with any other person that she did with Ned. He was,
in his own heated amoral way, the closest thing to a soul-mate that Matty ever had or ever will experience; that
unique time and situation that she shared with him can never be duplicated, replicated, or relived with another.
Welded together as they were by there common bonds of lust and avarice, he would be the de facto choice to share
this new found paradise with her, for he is the only other person who can truly appreciate all that went into
its realisation; he is her partner in sex and crime and as they cooled their naked bodies in the evening breeze
under the gently swaying wind-chimes, that was the closest to real satisfaction and meaningful connection with
another human being that Matty will ever know.

When Matty tells Ned before setting off for the boathouse that "no matter what happens, I love you" these are not
condescending or empty words, because her feelings for him are as close to real love and affection as she is
potentially capable of; unfortunately for Ned, in Matty's twisted moral universe loving someone does not preclude
murdering them or leaving them to rot in prison if there is some advantage to be gained by doing so. If her face
betrays true regret at the end Matty regrets the absence of Ned, the omission of him from her life and the void
that it leaves rather than any pain, suffering or damage that she has inflicted on him; as with any pure
narcissist, the "love" of another is really only a warped reflection or perverse by-product of her love of self,
but it is her nature and hence the practical limit of what she is capable of giving. And yet as she stares out at
the ebb and flow of the waves, and has time to reflect on her life, an unfamiliar sensation of isolation and
loneliness may be creeping into her; for all the wealth and exotic toys that her dreams fruition has bestowed
on her, she is still dissatisfied, disillusioned and, in a very real sense, utterly alone....