One of the most important thing in film is to setup a characters personality so you actually care about what happens to them, whether "goodies" or "baddies". Also usually if the protagonist you want to like the character.
I thought the main man was a wanker after watching 20 minutes. Don't care what happens to him, switched off.
The thing with this movie and some of Gaspar Noé's other films is that time isn't represented linearly or chronologically. I hated the main male protagonist too, but the film does find ways to make you sympathise with him throughout. Although, there are plenty of scenes throughout where you see how much of a dickhead he was. I kind of see it as a film about human flaws, and how people screw up and sometimes ruin things that they later realise we're very important to them. And I suppose the "I didn't realise what I had until it was gone" attitude is also something that you wouldn't want from your protagonist, I think it was approached well in this film. I definitely felt sorry for him in the end, especially on my 2nd viewing. But, he was undeniably a dickhead. I'd say give it a chance and watch it the whole way through, but just as the film itself is polarising... So is the character portrayed by the lead male actor. The film certainly seemed to have more depth to it on my 2nd viewing. Went from a 6/10 to a 7.5/10.
shareFor me, Murphy's character undermined the credibility of the whole thing.
He was so self-centred, so sorry for himself and so unpleasant to be around I could not believe that even one woman would be interested, let alone two.
I have seen many films deal successfully with getting me to care about fundamentally unsympathetic characters - but with this one not only did I not want to spend any more time with him, I just couldn't see why anyone else in the film would either.
And, by the end, you see that that's kind of the point. He's more or less left alone at the end of the film. It is pretty much implied that Elektra is dead, and that Omi leaves him with his child in the end. For me, at least, it's not about whether or not you want to stay invested in the character, but more about whether or not the fact that the position he has put him self in, with both the audience and the other characters in the film having reason to dislike him, if this makes it impossible to feel any sympathy for the character. You can absolutely disagree with, despise or feel MOSTLY apathetic towards someone, but still feel SOME level of sympathy for them in some way. I guess it comes down to whether or not you could see yourself in the situation that Murphy was in. Which I, in terms of the infidelity, cannot relate to him, but I can relate to the feeling of knowing that you've *beep* up and you've lost something significant to you as a result (even if it has been temporary in my case, while Murphy's situation has a sense of finality to it at the end of the film).
shareThat being said, I do feel like Gaspar Noé did a better job at making you feel sympathetic towards a "Fundamentally unsympathetic" character in his earlier film, "I Stand Alone". Love is easily one of Noé's weaker films, but I do feel that it, along with his other films, are pretty underrated.
share'One of the most important thing in film is to setup a characters personality so you actually care about what happens to them, whether "goodies" or "baddies"'
Who told you that nonsense? That is a very limited and boring view on what makes a good movie (which this isn't, but mostly for a lot of reasons other than the fact that he was, as you rightly put it, a wanker).
Bad actor, bad script, bad direction, what did you *beep* expect?
share