Married/Unmarried (2001 Video) User Reviews (16)

yuppies in impeccable decor, with souls in a sewer...

[ccmiller1492 · 4/10 · 1 July 2008]

A quartet of self-absorbed yuppies, surrounded by impeccable decor but with their souls in a sewer, seem to have nothing better to do than to analyze themselves and each other into very negative states of destruction. Decadence and cynicism abound, and the viewer is gradually submerged into such bleak ugliness that it is almost stifling trying to find one positive note. The actors all play their parts very well, but do real people behave in this way? Ben Daniel's character is the most repugnant, perverted misogynistic sadist I've ever seen on film, definitely aberrant, abnormal. The women characters are pitiful, equally repulsive. Paolo Seganti's uncertain husband is the only one with any credibility...but he seems emotionally dead after his marriage is destroyed. Altogether, a distasteful enterprise.

A similar, but more effective study of amoral wealthy lifestyles, and ambivalent sexuality leading to tragedy is "Llanto de la Tortuga" which I much prefer over this one. It doesn't leave you with such a taste of bile in your mouth.

Pretentious...misogynistc...and boring!

[maeander · 2/10 · 15 December 2004]

A simplistic melding of Ingmar Bergman, Eugene O'Neill, and Radley Metzger by a 16 year old devoted to Japanese animé would bring forth a better script than this pseudo artsy piece of junk.

A major problem with this film, which runs 86 minutes, is that it is 85 minutes too long. It is true that both Gina Bellman's and Kristen McMenamy's nipples are very pretty. But that they are not enough to sustain this poor man's Peter Greenway is readily apparent.

Derivative. Pedantic. Artless. What more can you say about such a dreary film. What it lacks in originality it makes up in...no, it doesn't make up in anything.

If you enjoy good cinema, you won't enjoy this.

Couldn't have said it better myself. (SPOILERS)

[Schmadrian · 10 May 2004]

"This rancid little British film about the serpentine relationships

between four smart metropolitan friends is so cold and hateful it

makes one recoil. The misogynistic Danny (Ben Daniels) abuses

his girlfriend (Kristen McMenamy) while advising his best friend,

Paul (Paolo Seganti), on matters of fidelity. At the same time, he's

having a sadomasochistic affair with Paul's wife, Amanda (Gina

Bellman). The film is written and directed by one Noli (the use of

such single monikers should always be a warning), and the lame

script obviously has pretensions to profundity. What it offers is

oh-so-shocking dirty talk to camera, amateurish scenes of sexual

game-playing and reams of thoroughly tedious dialogue. Lacking

insight, humour or sensitivity, it's as empty as the ghastly

characters it portrays. One star" From The Times.

Why??

[stevelivesey67 · 1/10 · 14 February 2021]

What sort of person would.- a - make this type of movie? b - like this type of movie?

Pretentious, vile crap. Don't bother.

Closer to the truth than Closer

[johnnybigpants · 7/10 · 2 May 2005]

I had not heard of this film until recently airing my grievances about the inept and much-lauded 'Closer', but was recommended to it by a girlfriend who strangely described it as 'offensively unforgettable'. Structured similarly to its feeble counterpart, we follow two partner-swapping couples who confess their (in)fidelity explicitly and coldly. A recently married wife is gripped by jealousy when himbo husband sees an ex-girlfriend on TV, while couple number two exhume a submissive side of role-playing with only one willing participant.

The writer/director - known only as Noli - refuses to compromise on the emotional darkness, overloading each set-piece with ear-bleeding conversation that is shockingly provocative if at times a little pretentious. It is very easy to switch off and become immune to the onslaught, but you are drawn 'closer' to each character's world of deeply-rooted sexual anxiety and insecurity. And most compelling is the recognition of some these grotesque inner feelings.

Visually, it is a knockout. Narratively, it drags, but constantly surprises and intrigues. Artistically, it puts 'Closer' to shame with its darker version of a darker truth.

A dark, disturbing, diseased slice of sexuality

[m_cinero · 8/10 · 4 December 2003]

Two couples exchange explicit revelations and bodily fluids in a brutal and suffocating drama which destroys the notion of happy ever after as bleakly as anything ever depicted on screen. Despite heralding this film I question whether it should have been banned. The seething misogyny of one its lead characters is extremely disturbing, expressly emphasizing the power of the spoken word over the iron fist. The performances are of the highest quality, the lacerating dialogue as brilliant or offensive as recent contempories Todd Solanz and Neil Labute. A talking heads movie that needs to be heard to be believed.

Shocking, brutal, brilliant

[merlin-2 · 7/10 · 5 December 2003]

This is a unique film. I cannot compare it to anything I have seen before. The director's stark words and powerful images leave an indelible mark. The acting is excellent and shows true courage as there is much nudity and sexual abuse. Mark Ryder's music complements the disturbing images superbly and shows that he is one of the very best in the business. This is a film to see.

Unsympathetic Characters

[b-gaist · 6/10 · 20 March 2007]

This film has the raw quality of a first feature-length movie by a new director. There are some interesting and revealing moments, but an aura of sensation and artistic pretense spoils the realistic timbre of the intriguing relationships between the characters, also contributing to a loss of their three-dimensionality. Whatever its faults, this film will provoke strong reactions in its viewers; this doesn't necessarily make for a good film, but it shows promise in the director's skill. I should mention that I personally found none of the characters sympathetic, and from this point of view the film strikes me as a study in human duplicity. The ending, however, suggests hope in what is otherwise a very brutal and dark portrayal of human relationships.

Unsettling alternative to relationship drama

[schpalding · 8/10 · 20 December 2004]

This unsettling film has as its central theme that monogamy is somewhat cancerous, though not as cancerous as the deeply unpleasant characters who share this view. Set within color-coded interiors, very striking if a little garish, the film unfolds to reveal each character more deviant than the last and the whole married/unmarried combo-interaction between the four friends seems to fuse into one giant amoral heap that leaves the viewer numb and about as unromantic as one can feel! However, there is something extremely gripping about the whole experience, the brutality of the language, the bravery of the performance and possibly the sheer bravado of the director to make such a hateful film. A previous reviewer hailed the film misogynistic - which one character certainly is - but then proceeds not to comment on the actresses performances in the film but indeed praise their 'nipples' instead. And he calls the FILM misogynistic!!! Idiot! Not for everyone, clearly, but an unsettling alternative to the relationship drama.

Unsavory movie, but awesome performances

[mavalent-1 · 7/10 · 13 June 2016]

What a difficult movie to watch, but at the same time magnetic... This is due to the immensely unlikable characters in it, combined with exceptional performances.

The relationship between the married couple is perhaps less interesting than the one happening between the unmarried one. Just because Ben Daniels (Danny) makes a heck of a misogynist be amazingly watchable. Spectacularly gorgeous here, and being a sweetie in real life, emphasizes his staggering capacity to turn baddie. Also the actress playing Kim is outstanding.

The film looks very stylish and benefits from that.

It's not in any way a movie to be liked, it's impossible to like it. One can only admire the performances and wish never to be in a similar situation.

Because a guy like Danny is really dangerous, and magnetic, to the point of making someone stay in a totally destructive relationship, without being able to leave him. Until one day you end up dead. Fortunately it doesn't happen in the movie.

A definite warning to destructive relationships. Unbearable!

Hate in the name of love

[Andrew499 · 7/10 · 13 January 2004]

There are scenes in this film that make your jaw drop. Not by effects or plot twists, but by words. Some of the dialogue and interchanges between the four protagonists of this wordy and questionably disfunctional film are as raw as anything I've heard on celluloid. Writer/director Noli attacks the senses via your ears and offers an anti-antidote with sugar-coated visuals that make the nastiness seem even more harrowing. The story is nothing new, two couples talk sex, indulge in quite a lot of it, and there are no happy families, but the relentless commitment to denouncing love and fidelity makes this uncomfortable yet compelling viewing. Overlong with little reward but contemplation of your own relationships in the bleakest of sense, this remains a searing autopsy on marriage and monogamy. Great acting throughout, especially from the women who suffer the verbal onslaught with towering performances. Heartstopping.

Brave voice that should be applauded

[helenhowell47 · 10/10 · 17 March 2004]

I have awarded this film 10 out of 10. It is not a 10 out of 10 film because there is no such thing. Nothing is flawless and this isnt either. But I sat in the dark for an hour and a half at my local Bradford Film Festival and watched a British film that was brave and unique and determined to shake this sleeping country and its dying film industry from its roots and refuse to succumb to the dross that infiltrates the multiplexes with American sugar or gross out UK-lad-com. I listened to the director stand up and introduce his film passionately speaking out to the audience and warning them this may not be for them and might even make them angry. But he stressed that cinema should incite such reactions and he welcomed them. This film was made for tiny money. It looks remarkable. The performances are remarkable. And its voice is loud and strong and uncomfortable and upsetting and raw and brilliant. Well done sir.

Smart but very very bleak

[avavnow · 7/10 · 17 April 2008]

One suspects the director is rebelling against the saccharine relationship movies that have swamped cinemas in the last decade because this is very bleak stuff. It is also very very smart. A naked married couple open the film in the tub and we're immediately thrown into the jealous paranoia of the wife, impressively played by Gina Bellman in her best role in years. As buff but dim hubby protests his innocence we relax in familiar rom-com mode but are soon shaken awake as the film shifts gear into a very explicit and (misogynistic) second relationship, the unmarried couple of TV fave Ben Daniels and his skeletal girlfriend Kim (Vogue model Kirsten Mcmenemy). Daniels unleashes a character never seen before in his numerous TV roles that's for sure! He is full of seductive menace and quiet venom, a cross between Casanova and Hannibal Lecter, tormenting Kim with brutal dominance to satiate his fetish and hate. The film shifts between the characters in satisfying chunks, revealing more of the story within the big bold colors that fill the screen within each carefully designed set-piece. What we lack is some humor and humility, some air to lift us out of the suffocation because this is strong stuff, ear-popping dialogue, gratuitous and necessary with equal measure. Not as good as Sex Lies & Videotape, but pretty damn brave for a Brit-flick.

ummm weird in start .. better later..

[afterdarkpak · 6/10 · 25 August 2020]

Its like a nymphomaniac style but less gore n graphic nude. some weird english performance , low budget movie. But kinda very good ending though.

a married couple having trust issues while wife keep asking husband about his one night stands. and then another un-married couple where the guy is kinda kinky or dominant one who like to take control over his woman . that guy and husband are good friends and as well as their woman too. they start keep talking about relationship problems to each other.

slow n boring movie in start.. but it gets better in middle to the end.

--------------spoilers---------------

why i like the ending? .. in the start wife keep asking husband about his one night stand with model , and she really wants to know that husband really loves her. but later its revealed that she is also cheating her husband with another guy for 2 years. and she has no feelings for her husband. and i really liked that scenes where its revealed about her cheating and then man treats her like trash.

and in the end , both man have sex with another woman in-front of the wife which made her totally broke in heart. and in the end, husband left the wife and found another woman. and he also told his best friend's woman to leave for another guy.

A feel-bad masterpiece

[severine77 · 9/10 · 28 November 2003]

I watched this film in Sydney Australia last month and do not know when or if it will be released in the States. I won't see it again if it does but will urge all those I know to go. I hated the profound effect it had on me. It said the unsaid. It's brutal, beautiful, heartless and horrifying. It's banal and incisive. It's love when love doesn't exist.

Apologies to the actors whose names I cannot remember or accurately state their characters. But they are superb. Superb.

Harrowing, explicit, and hypnotic.

[filmer10 · 9/10 · 19 September 2003]

Harrowing, explicit, and hypnotic. Amazed and enraged me but unable to shirk. One of the most confrontational films about the vacuity of sex that I have seen since Carnal Knowledge. Basic but uncomfortable tale of two couples as they reveal their sexual loathing for each other. The only film that makes you look away because of what is being said. Delicate ears need not apply. Miss Macmenemy should receive acting gongs for her devastating performance.