Directed by Aussie auteur Rolf de Heer, this psychological thriller takes place on what begins a very good day for Steve. It's his birthday, and later he gets both an office party and a big promotion. In high spirits, he arrives home expecting a surprise party, but what's waiting for him in the dark, deserted house is gift-wrapped videotape. Making himself comfortable in his easy chair, he plays it. It starts out pleasantly enough with his wife offering a toast and doing a strip. Steve is pleasantly surprised and titillated at first. But when his naked wife abruptly switches to a bitter diatribe about how desperately unhappy she is, and suddenly points a gun first toward him and then at her own temple, Steve's hopes for a fun evening turn to shock and fear, especially when he discovers all the light bulbs are missing, and all the locks have been changed, trapping him inside the inside-locking, burglar-proof house. And those are just the first in a series of jolts, revelations and mind games Steve is subjected to as his wife as she ennerates in her ever-nastier TV monologue all the sins he's committed during their marriage and which have driven her to this revenge. Basically one long real-time scene between a woman on a TV screen and her husband watching her, this is not a particularly good movie, but its intensity will hold your attention and make you think twice about cheating on your spouse and surprise birthday parties.
ALEXANDRA'S PROJECT (2003)
Directed by Aussie auteur Rolf de Heer, this psychological thriller takes place on what begins a very good day for Steve. It's his birthday, and later he gets both an office party and a big promotion. In high spirits, he arrives home expecting a surprise party, but what's waiting for him in the dark, deserted house is gift-wrapped videotape. Making himself comfortable in his easy chair, he plays it. It starts out pleasantly enough with his wife offering a toast and doing a strip. Steve is pleasantly surprised and titillated at first. But when his naked wife abruptly switches to a bitter diatribe about how desperately unhappy she is, and suddenly points a gun first toward him and then at her own temple, Steve's hopes for a fun evening turn to shock and fear, especially when he discovers all the light bulbs are missing, and all the locks have been changed, trapping him inside the inside-locking, burglar-proof house. And those are just the first in a series of jolts, revelations and mind games Steve is subjected to as his wife as she ennerates in her ever-nastier TV monologue all the sins he's committed during their marriage and which have driven her to this revenge. Basically one long real-time scene between a woman on a TV screen and her husband watching her, this is not a particularly good movie, but its intensity will hold your attention and make you think twice about cheating on your spouse and surprise birthday parties.
