This is the first "scandalous adult/teen relationship" movie I've watched. It's interesting that near the beginning when it was only glances/flirtations between Stig and Viola I wasn't necessarily upset by it, but when they crossed the line and kissed I felt complete dread and disgust. I don't really know what to say or how to keep this on track, so I'll just write out what I liked in list form:
1. great acting. All the characters did excellent work. I really liked the character Frank. And the broken bottle scene had me nearly covering my eyes.
2. hair/makeup/costumes. I always love a well executed period piece. They did a good job of establishing characters by the use of costumes. Also, Viola's hair being slightly loose in her first scene (wherein she shows that she's not shocked by the sexual note the boys had been passing, but still establishes her dominance by making Stig clean up his mess) and how she always wore it down when they were seeing each other, and then after the bottle scene when she is speaking with the headmaster she has her hair back in a tight bun, and is wearing a very modest, conservative dress like she's trying to get things back under control.
3. symbolism. Ugh there were so many good metaphors. Like in the stairway when the railing breaks and Stig tries to put the nail/bolt back in the wall and Viola says "here let me help." And when Frank is talking about natural products like wool, leather, and silk versus the new nylon clothing, saying "why would women want to wrap their legs in sandpaper" which works as a metaphor for the difference between he and Stig (stig being both "something new" and also rough and unpolished in his sexual experience). And I feel like the scene neat the end when the cuckoo clock spits alcohol all over Viola and ruins whatever she was writing could mean something. And at the end when Stig steals the dictionaries that he first used as a pretense to spend extra time with viola it shows that he was taking whatever he could salvage from the ultimately damaging relationship, specifically knowledge.
okay, some things I didn't love: 1. I felt like the female characters could have been more fleshed out. Like the explanation for Viola's behavior is that... She's selfish and crazy? She's sad that she's aging maybe? I don't know, I wish they'd delved more into her backstory. But at the same time, we often don't know why abusers abuse. So they could have been purposely leaving her perspective fairly unexamined. And then same with Lisbet... Idk i guess she was just supposed to be a foil fo Viola (young/naive versus mature/calculating). And then Stig's mother. She was likeable, and the part was well acted, but I wonder why they didn't show more of her grief when Sigge died. 2. They opened with an aerial shot of the children playing in the snow outside the school, but I don't remember a lot of other wide or interesting shots besides that. And most of the film took place indoors. I mean, I think the cramped feeling of the film was semi-deliberate, but maybe they could have played around with it a bit more. This isn't a huge gripe for me, just something I noticed. 3. The plane scene near the end was kind of choppy and weird.
Overall this was a chilling look at abusive/pedophilic relationships and I was mostly disturbed by the intimate scenes. A very well done movie.
okay, some things I didn't love: 1. I felt like the female characters could have been more fleshed out. Like the explanation for Viola's behavior is that... She's selfish and crazy? She's sad that she's aging maybe? I don't know, I wish they'd delved more into her backstory. But at the same time, we often don't know why abusers abuse. So they could have been purposely leaving her perspective fairly unexamined. And then same with Lisbet... Idk i guess she was just supposed to be a foil fo Viola (young/naive versus mature/calculating). And then Stig's mother. She was likeable, and the part was well acted, but I wonder why they didn't show more of her grief when Sigge died. 2. They opened with an aerial shot of the children playing in the snow outside the school, but I don't remember a lot of other wide or interesting shots besides that. And most of the film took place indoors. I mean, I think the cramped feeling of the film was semi-deliberate, but maybe they could have played around with it a bit more. This isn't a huge gripe for me, just something I noticed. 3. The plane scene near the end was kind of choppy and weird.
Overall this was a chilling look at abusive/pedophilic relationships and I was mostly disturbed by the intimate scenes. A very well done movie.