Note: I streamed this film from Netflix on a 4K TV. Good image quality and good movie.
"Concussion" takes place within the mind of an early 40s housewife, Abby, who is unhappy in her marriage. She and her wife are more like roommates with children than a married couple. One afternoon while renovating an apartment with a handyman, Abby finishes her work and hires a female escort to who compliments her on her skills in the bedroom. This leads to a newfound hobby, or maybe, a passing fancy for Abby.
Abby is a depressed character. It's clear she isn't that interested in her marriage or even her children. The film threads the line very carefully to avoid any melodrama or cheese presented by this premise. Abby's micro affairs don't seem to offer her any more peace than that of sexual satiety. The numerous sex scenes do not titillate the viewer. Many of the scenes show only a portion of the coitus or the beginning/end. The rest is left to our imagination, which it should be. We don't feel anything from these scenes but what actor Robin Weigert wants us to see: melancholy.
Concussion is a study in control by Robin Weigert and director Stacie Passon. Abby eventually meets a fellow mom, Sam, from her children's elementary school as a client. The two of them have obvious physical chemistry and share a sense of friendship. We think and even hope that Abby will finally have some type of passion in her life. And she doesn't. Abby can't understand why Sam would want to pay for an escort when she has a husband who appears totally into her. Sam says she's just bored. Aren't we all.
The film succeeds because it's free from any sort of an agenda. The same-sex story has little relevance to the plot. What is missing, if anything, is an idea of how Abby came to be in this phase of her life. Has she always been this way? I was engrossed enough in the physical storytelling that I wanted to know more.
"Concussion" takes place within the mind of an early 40s housewife, Abby, who is unhappy in her marriage. She and her wife are more like roommates with children than a married couple. One afternoon while renovating an apartment with a handyman, Abby finishes her work and hires a female escort to who compliments her on her skills in the bedroom. This leads to a newfound hobby, or maybe, a passing fancy for Abby.
Abby is a depressed character. It's clear she isn't that interested in her marriage or even her children. The film threads the line very carefully to avoid any melodrama or cheese presented by this premise. Abby's micro affairs don't seem to offer her any more peace than that of sexual satiety. The numerous sex scenes do not titillate the viewer. Many of the scenes show only a portion of the coitus or the beginning/end. The rest is left to our imagination, which it should be. We don't feel anything from these scenes but what actor Robin Weigert wants us to see: melancholy.
Concussion is a study in control by Robin Weigert and director Stacie Passon. Abby eventually meets a fellow mom, Sam, from her children's elementary school as a client. The two of them have obvious physical chemistry and share a sense of friendship. We think and even hope that Abby will finally have some type of passion in her life. And she doesn't. Abby can't understand why Sam would want to pay for an escort when she has a husband who appears totally into her. Sam says she's just bored. Aren't we all.
The film succeeds because it's free from any sort of an agenda. The same-sex story has little relevance to the plot. What is missing, if anything, is an idea of how Abby came to be in this phase of her life. Has she always been this way? I was engrossed enough in the physical storytelling that I wanted to know more.