Perhaps Byrne wants us to see Sofia as the world does, beautiful and vulnerable. These sequences are titillating and disturbing, which might be precisely the point of all of this leering. The sex scene cuts from the writhing couple to flashbacks of a frightened little girl trembling from some mysterious terror.
In darkness natalie dormer skin#
Her plump, blue lips, her smooth, grey skin are intercut with Dormer’s live flesh twisting under the spray of water. “In the shower, when she exposes her breasts, In Darkness jumps to shots of Veronique’s bruised but still exquisite corpse. Because while he takes plenty of opportunities to run his camera up and down Dormer’s nude form, he intercuts these images with ones clearly meant to make us cringe. Which maybe is Byrne’s intention? I’m torn. But looking at a blind woman in this manner draws a greater attention to this trespass and lack of consent. We are spying, not invited into this moment.
In darkness natalie dormer movie#
“Most times when a movie leers at a female character, it is voyeuristic. “The voyeurism of this ogling lens is amplified by the objectification being that of a blind woman,” I wrote, working it out.
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But as I drafted my review, I realized this was by design. Dormer’s partner in the latter (Skrein) is spared this lusty gaze, treated chiefly as a pedestal for propping up her breasts.” The abruptness and directness of the nudity shocked and annoyed me, as did the pronouncedly Male Gaze. “ In Darkness is happy to leer at its leading lady, sitting on tight close-ups of her flawless but expressionless face, then reveling in shots of her bare back and breasts in showers and sex scenes. In my first draft of this review, I lamented the ogling of Dormer, writing. Still, the final effect feels a bit muted. There are brief moments where Dormer gets to break out of this borderline suffocating stoicism, crumbling into panic when accosted on a busy street, and giving way to fury when confronted with an atrocious revelation. But upon reflection, such sparks of vivaciousness would have been ill-fitted to Sofia, who has survived by remaining calm in the face of extreme horror. While watching the film this frustrated me, as I wanted to see the spunky charisma I’ve come to expect from her on The Tudors and Game of Thrones. But she favors a reserved approach that offers an often enigmatic expression. Playing blind can lead to deeply hokey acting complete with mournful mid-distance stares and melodramatic mugging. Sofia will need all her senses and her wits about her to stay alive when a handsome, could-be killer (Ed Skrein) and his crocodile’s smile-wearing sister (a vibrant, scene-stealing Joely Richardson) begin stalking her.ĭormer takes a major risk in this role. A schlubby detective asks if blindness gives her heightened senses. But her burgeoning friendship with the glamorous and troubled girl has both the cops and criminals curious about how much she really knows. In Darkness follows Sofia (Dormer), a blind pianist who is the only witness to the suspicious death of her neighbor Veronique (a sultry Emily Ratajkowski), the gorgeous daughter of a possible war criminal (a grim Jan Bijvoet).
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This may not be a movie I enjoyed, but it’s one I admire. And realizing that, I can only say bravo. They meant to make me feel off-kilter and disturbed. They meant to repulse with their crass objectification of female bodies. They meant to deny us her standard charms. But as I wrote, I realized I’d been blind to what Dormer and her co-writer/director Anthony Byrne were doing. I was railing against the film’s leering at her body and its convoluted plot. The first time, I was ready to tell you that In Darkness was an ill-conceived and disappointing erotic thriller that totally wastes its star/co-writer Natalie Dormer’s sharp eyes and signature smirk by throwing her into the role of a stoic blind woman. This is the second time I wrote this review.