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Damage [DVD]

Jeremy Irons (Actor), Juliette Binoche (Actor), Louis Malle (Director, Producer) Rated:
R
Format: DVD
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 1,089 ratings
IMDb6.7/10.0
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Format NTSC, Closed-captioned, DVD, Anamorphic, Subtitled, Widescreen, Color
Contributor Ian Bannen, Simon Relph, Rupert Graves, Vincent Malle, Jeremy Irons, David Hare, Louis Malle, Miranda Richardson, Juliette Binoche, Leslie Caron See more
Language English
Runtime 1 hour and 51 minutes
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Product Description

Product Description

A middle-aged man enters into a self-destructive affair with his son's fiancee. Starring Jeremy Irons, Juliette Binoche, and Academy Award - nominee Miranda Richardson. Directed by Louis Malle.

DVD Features:
Featurette
Theatrical Trailer

Amazon.com

The fascination of watching Damage is similar to the fascination of watching a car crash in progress--you know something unpleasant is going to happen, but your attention is riveted to the scene of destruction. In the case of this acclaimed drama, adapted by playwright David Hare from the novel by Josephine Hart, the destruction results from a collision of sexual attraction between a British governmental official (Jeremy Irons) and his son's fiancée (Juliette Binoche). Blind to the damage they'll cause to others and themselves, they begin an obsessive affair based purely on impulsive attraction and the hidden emotions that feed into their immediate physical desires. As you could expect, this leads to emotional fallout for everyone concerned, lending multiple interpretations to the film's title and allowing Miranda Richardson (as Irons's wife) to give a brilliant performance drawn from raw anger and betrayal. Under the direction of Louis Malle, this forceful drama never resorts to sordid detail or gratuitous titillation. Rather, Malle and his esteemed cast have explored the ways in which the power of sexuality supercedes the rationality of logic, when mutual attraction is stronger than one's ability to resist temptation. Damage makes it clear that such an indulgence will always come at considerable cost. The DVD of this fine film includes a behind-the-scenes featurette and the original theatrical trailer. --Jeff Shannon

Product details

  • Aspect Ratio ‏ : ‎ 1.66:1
  • Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
  • MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ R (Restricted)
  • Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.5 x 5.38 x 0.6 inches; 2.4 ounces
  • Director ‏ : ‎ Louis Malle
  • Media Format ‏ : ‎ NTSC, Closed-captioned, DVD, Anamorphic, Subtitled, Widescreen, Color
  • Run time ‏ : ‎ 1 hour and 51 minutes
  • Release date ‏ : ‎ November 17, 1998
  • Actors ‏ : ‎ Jeremy Irons, Juliette Binoche, Miranda Richardson, Rupert Graves, Ian Bannen
  • Subtitles: ‏ : ‎ English, Spanish, French
  • Producers ‏ : ‎ Louis Malle, Vincent Malle, Simon Relph
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
  • Studio ‏ : ‎ New Line Home Video
  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 630516195X
  • Writers ‏ : ‎ David Hare
  • Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 1,089 ratings

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
1,089 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Suzie@coolbreeze
5.0 out of 5 stars 'Damage', movie.
Reviewed in the United States on April 16, 2024
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Saw this year's ago and thought it was a great film. Didn't know the title, but stumbled across it in my movie suggestions, and recognized it by the description. I watched it immediately. Intriguing, sensual, a story with twists and great actors.
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Medusa
5.0 out of 5 stars deep, shocking.....
Reviewed in the United States on May 28, 2008
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Every time I watch a movie that is based on a book, I can't help but thinking that it just can't be fair to the book itself. There will always be a way or another to minimize either the story or the characters. Based on the book by Josephine Hart, this movie is actually enhancing the book in so many ways.
I saw the movie 14 years ago, when it was heavily criticized for the sexual scenes, the nudity, and the lack of dialogue. I loved it then and I come to love it even more now.

In the book, the focus was on the emotional struggle that the main male character (Stephen Fleming) was going through. He lived all of his life being the good family man, good provider, simply playing it safe by the rules, until he meets Anna, the mysterious girl friend of his son. That's when he looses control and gets torn apart between his strong desire to have that woman and his sincere love to his kids.
Anna would strike you as the cold, mysterious, kind of evil person who might have some emotional side to her, but it's focused on her selfishness and total consumption into her own emotional damage.

Now, when Jeremy Irons is playing Stephen, and Juliette Binoche is playing Anna, the story was taken to a different level, where dialogue is not needed much to show the development of the characters.
Binoche with the short hair cut, innocent yet very pretty face, and piercing looks is definitely making Anna the irresistible, mysterious, semi evil woman.
Irons simply can show with his eyes the entire struggle and pain that Stephen is going through; I don't think any other actor could've played that role.

The sexual scenes were way deeper than mere sexual attraction. I don't understand why they were criticized that much over the years, while the porn industry was blooming. The love scenes mostly focused on the two actors' faces and didn't show much skin as critics would say. The love making didn't focus on sex as much as on the desire of that man to bosses that woman in every way, and on the total physical submission she gave him, while at the same time she didn't give him her whole self.

I don't want to ruin the plot for any body who's interested in watching the movie, but try to focus on Irons' facial expressions, on the scene after the public love making in France where he goes back to his room and lays crying on the bed, on the scene when he's naked holding his son, and on the final scene and its details("...she was no different than any body else").

With two great actors like Irons and Binoche, you might be distracted from the other great actors like Martin (the son), Ingrid (the wife). Great movie, great music, great director BUT if you are a righteous person you might not like it; if you are a religious righteous person you will hate it (it might put you in confrontation with some puzzles about life and human limitations, that I highly doubt righteous people will understand).
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Joshua M.
4.0 out of 5 stars Great movie. The sex was weird af
Reviewed in the United States on October 29, 2018
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I love morally ambiguous story lines with an entire ensemble of morally corrupted characters, so this one was great. But the sex scenes were awful. It looked like two virgins on their first acid trip trying to figure out how their bodies work. And they each lasted barely a minute (no montage, just a straight minute). It was difficult to imagine that this woman would willingly carry out such a potentially damaging affair with a guy who makes sex look like a pelican trying to screw a weathervane during a storm.
18 people found this helpful
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Anna V. Carroll
5.0 out of 5 stars Hearts Full of Scorpions!
Reviewed in the United States on June 9, 2019
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The book, a slim volume written by Josephine Hart Saatchi, is written in a unique and poetic style. The film is as dark as the sky during a tornado and just as deadly. Both are entertaining and disturbing.

This is not my kind of film but watched it because of my favorite actors, Miranda Richardson and Jeremy Irons. I think it is their best work. Ms. Richardson is heartbreaking at the end in the kitchen scene following a family tragedy. She brings you to copious tears. Irons is stoic, cold, unbending, and very believable as the errant husband who awakens sexually after meeting Anna Barton, his son's fiancee. Evidently, men over 50 CAN find love, even for the first time.

Juliette Binoche, Anna Barton, is a study in evil from the first scene to last. She is despicable, deplorable, demonic and a consummate deceiver. She is striking, not pretty, rail thin, dresses only in black, and not remotely sexually attractive. When she first meets Martyn's father (Irons) she stands in front of him and stares at him like a dimwit on steroids. It is laughable. It's downhill from there. She latches on like a Pitbull and doesn't let go. Until she has to.

The backstory is her brother, in his teens, commits suicide when she goes out on her first date and he realizes he can't possess her. Leslie Caron plays a cameo as her ditzy mother. Great cast. Great script. Great acting. Awful subject.

I won't reveal the ending (you should read the book first) but it HAD to be tragic. A man falls in love with a badly damaged woman and risks his wife, son, British government job, his future and sanity. All for this insipid woman.

The English countryside and old mansions are beautifully photographed. London is awash in rain and pastel tones. Binoche's clothes are bespoke and expensive, as are Irons. What's not to love?

This is a great film to watch on a rainy day or evening over a large bowl of Chowder, white wine and a slice of homemade pound cake. It takes the sting off the ending and prevents you from trying to reach into the screen to strangle Ms. Binoche. More than once.

I was devastated to learn the author, wife of English billionaire Maurice Saatchi, died a few years ago of cancer. Her writing is eloquent and so easy to read. She seems the last person to write such a dark and sad story of marital deceit. I wonder whom she is writing about in real not reel life.

I totally love the book and film. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
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Top reviews from other countries

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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars 👍
Reviewed in Mexico on August 21, 2019
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Gran película de Louise Malle
2 people found this helpful
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パグッチ
5.0 out of 5 stars 純粋に作品の素晴らしさ。
Reviewed in Japan on July 12, 2020
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かなり際どいシーンがあるが、それらが無駄なもので無く、品性を保ったまま、尚更、この切羽詰まった恋の物語を際立たせるものとしているのは、巨匠と言われる手腕の賜物である。彼等素晴らしい監督が現代において皆無と言えるのは映画界の衰退とも言えるのではないだろうか、映画好きならば、今の作品など見る必要無し過去の作品を観るべし。和洋問わずこの様な名作と言えるものが数多くあるのだから。この版は、韓国版であり、届くのに暫く日にちがかかったが日本語字幕も付いて、鑑賞に問題無し。
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jamessmurf
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant movie for its time :))
Reviewed in Australia on February 15, 2020
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Fantastic performances by the main lead actors, emotionally shocking with a disturbing ending !!!
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J. L. Sievert
5.0 out of 5 stars Besotted
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 4, 2016
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The film is a morality tale regarding one of the Seven Deadly Sins — lust. It illustrates how the sin can seduce, debase, abandon and destroy one. It’s an anti-romantic romance or existential love story that contains a grim moral sting in its tail. It says there is no special woman for the man who seeks her. He may think she is special and for a time be fooled into feeling it, but in the end his delusion will lead to disillusionment. She was different: or so he told himself. But in truth she was as flawed as all women and all persons are. Blinded by lust, he could not see it, or didn’t want to. Passion became everything, a desire that consumed him.

Neuroscience says we are conditioned by biology to see only the good during the early stages of love with our lovers, high as we are on the natural brain chemicals of dopamine and phenylethylamine and on hormones such as adrenaline and norepinephrine.

Stephen Fleming (Jeremy Irons) is chemically high, besotted, mad for Anna Barton (Juliette Binoche). Simply by breathing, existing, being near him, she arouses his carnal appetite. Desire leads to possession, and possession, in one form or other, to murder.

Beyond the problem of carnality and the damage lust can do, is the social problem of Anna in relation to Stephen. She’s the French fiancee of Martyn (Rupert Graves), Stephen’s son. Thus she’s also Stephen’s future daughter-in-law. Stephen is married to Ingrid (Miranda Richardson). Anna therefore becomes a kind of double adulteress, sleeping with both father and son.

What demons have led her to this way of living? We see glimpses of her troubled past through scraps of conversation about it. These confessions mainly take place during love breaks in sex sessions with Stephen. She and her younger brother (two years younger) were close as children back in France. They didn’t play with other children, only with themselves. This went on endlessly in the apparent endlessness of childhood. But time did pass and eventually changed things. They became teenagers and Anna became pretty, attractive, noticed. Other boys and even grown men wanted her time and other things she had. She became aware of this, gradually growing more distant from her brother. He took the change badly, becoming asocial and highly jealous of her suitors. He fought with one of them and had a nervous breakdown. Eventually he died from heartbreak, though the official cause of death was marked as suicide.

Since then Anna has lived with betrayal, or her sense of it toward him. She hates how she behaved and has nightmares. She misses him and wishes she could somehow bring him back to life to apologise to him. Her regard for herself is low, her regard for men even lower. Her abuse of sex and others may be a kind of penance, a punishment for wrongdoing.

Heretofore she has sought out punishing men — those who maltreat her for her sins. But Martyn, Stephen’s son, is different. He is gentle, loving, kind. He seems to have rescued her, given her a fresh start, a chance to change and reinvent herself. Even the mother of Anna recognises this and considers Martyn a godsend.

But while this family good cheer is occurring the seeds of depravity are already being sown. Stephen is wracked by guilt, of course. How can he look at his wife? How can he face his son? What would he say? How could it even be said? And so he goes deeper — deeper into deceit, evasion, guilt, remorse.

It’s hard to know how Anna feels. If she seems cold, it could be the result of her emotional damage, the guilt she feels for having caused (she thinks) her brother’s death. Her mother thinks it best forgotten, a lamentable tragedy that happened long ago. He wasn’t the first nor will he be the last sensitive, confused misunderstood adolescent who couldn’t cope with the demands of the adult world. Anna probably hates her mother for this cold detachment. She never says so, but doesn’t have to. Anna is truly alone, her brother lost because of her selfishness, her mother unlovable, a father no one speaks of, if he exists.

Martyn is Anna’s chance for redemption. She knows it, may even want it. But the moment she sees Martyn’s father she forgets her new role, giving Stephen a look he reads as unmistakable. Moral, I guess: you can’t teach an old rabid dog new tricks. It isn’t that Anna has demons. It’s more like they have her. She’s bewitched and will cause damage because she herself is damaged.

Stephen, we think, should have known better. Perhaps he did. But there are other pressures and forces bearing down on him. He’s respectable. He’s successful and middle class, a bureaucrat for Britain in the European Parliament. He shuttles between London and the Continent, an important man. People look up to him, including his wife and son. So do some members of the government, because he is nothing if not reliable, competent, dedicated, charming and intelligent. He’s irreplaceable. In other words, he’s a sitting duck for Anna. He’s probably never done with a woman the things he finds he can do with her. From the body language and tone of voice he uses with Ingrid, his wife, there was never any passion between them, or if there was it existed long, long ago.

In short, Stephen can’t help himself. If love or lust is a drug, he’s hooked, an addict now. She’s his smack, his high and abandonment. When in congress with her he’s a different man, a vital one it feels, whereas in the suit and tie and respectable career in Brussels or Paris he feels castrated. She’s like a spring breeze. Fresh air like this never tasted so good or sweet.

But of course he’s doomed. He probably even knows it before his destruction arrives. He’s not stupid, just weak and foolish.

The film is old and obscure (1992), and one of the few made in English by the great French director Louis Malle. Time has not been kind to it. The modern technologies of filmmaking have worked to make its cinematography look flat, washed out, grainy. The film has not physically aged well. This applies to the sound as well. Jeremy Irons, being British, and public-school educated at that, is a bit of a mumbler. I love his voice (it’s deeply resonant and emotive), but he hardly opens his mouth when he speaks. One strains to hear what he’s saying, the rewind button becoming one’s best friend (along with the volume control).

But bless Malle for being French, not English. I don’t mean this as a knock on the English; I say it to praise the French, as many others never do. If lust is damaging, as the film’s title says it is, we should be made to see how and why. We are. Malle does not hold back. This isn’t pornography, but it’s about as close to being it without being so. The lovers, as they had to be, are passionate. Floors and furniture are not obstacles; they are invitations. They whet the appetite and stimulate the imagination. Stephen, as stated, used to be drab, a buttoned-down British bureaucrat. No more. Lust turns him into Tarzan or King Kong. This transformation is astonishing, even to him, or especially to him, and he tends to like it while it is happening, unlike after the fact when he’s a picture of abject misery.

Feminist complaints and critiques of the film are certainly valid. Why the woman always? Woman as temptress, siren, harlot. In the beginning life was good, peaceful, harmonious. But no, she had destroy it, handing the poisoned apple to the uncorrupted Adam in the Garden of Innocence. She’s to blame. She brought sin and disgrace into the world. The film plays out like this, Stephen its victim, Anna its cause. But of course this is patriarchal nonsense. It always takes two. If there is blame, both share in it.

The damage is near total, two marriages destroyed — that of Stephen and Ingrid, and of Anna and Martyn, a marriage that cannot occur now. Trust is also obliterated. Ingrid divorces Stephen, and what can Anna ever say to Martyn? The selfish and self-indulgent behaviour of Stephen and Anna have sent out ripples of misery everywhere.

Love in a way is like religion: you have to believe in it to make it real. If you don’t, it isn’t. And if it isn’t, then it’s a case of mutual exploitation, two parasites sucking pleasure from the other. Such a romantic set-up seldom lasts, as transience is in the nature of carnality. What seemed so special and magical at the time was just a projection of desire, a wish fulfilment that failed.

Conclusion: we delude ourselves in our elusive search for happiness. Or at least happiness defined as it is here: sexual possession of another. The voiceover at the end by Jeremy Irons in his sad, beautiful, weary voice brings things to a sobering end. Some years have passed and Stephen is now in a hot, dusty country, perhaps in Spain or Morocco. He tells us:

“It takes a remarkably short time to withdraw from the world. I travelled until I arrived at a life of my own.

What really makes us is beyond grasping. It’s way beyond knowing. We give into love because it gives us some sense of what is unknowable. Nothing else matters…

I saw her once more only. I saw her by accident in an airport changing planes. She didn’t see me. She was no different from anyone else.”
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J.A.Hallbauer ;Doc Halliday
5.0 out of 5 stars Verhängnis-volle Obsession. - Nicht frei von SPOILERN!
Reviewed in Germany on November 30, 2015
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Staatssekretär Stephen Fleming ist ein distinguierter Mann um die 50, hat eine sympathisch-hübsche Ehefrau namens Ingrid (Miranda Richardson), zwei Kinder inGestalt von Martyn (Mitte 20, stellvertretender Politikredakteur einer angesehenen Zeitung) und eine 12-14jährige Tochter, die ihre erste Liebe erlebt.
Auf einem Empfang stellt sich ihm Anna Barton (Juliette Binoche) vor, keine prima vista strahlende Schönheit, aber etwas anders als die meisten Frauen mit ihrer Kurzhaarfrisur fein geschnittenen Gesichtszügen und schwer deutbarem Augenausdruck.
Schon am nächsten Tag verabreden sie sich, wobei, als wäre schon alles gesagt, nur Zeit und Ort des Treffens vereinbart werden, und beim ersten erotischen Treffen fallen sie übereinander her wie ausgehungerte Raubtiere über eine Beute.

Anna ist die Verlobte von Stephens Sohn Martyn, und sie ist nicht bereit, die Verlobung zu lösen und mi Stephen ein Leben zu beginnen, er will sie haben, sie erwidert, es würde nichts ändern, er habe sie ja schon. Fleming ist derart verrückt nach Anna, dass er ihr und seinem Sohn sogar bei ihrem Kurzurlaub nach Paris von Brüssel aus nachreist, wo ein politisches Treffen unerwartet früh verschoben wird. Für Anna scheint dies völlig natürlich, als könne es gar nicht anders sein, als er in Paris auftaucht.
Stephen beendet das Verhältnis telephonisch, nachdem die Familie Annas Mutter, eine mehrmals geschiedene Frau, kennenlernt, die auf eine Ähnlichkeit zwischen Annas durch Suizid verstorbenen innig geliebten Bruder Ashton hinweist und dann bei einer Autofahrt Stephen bittet, Annas geplanter Hochzeit nicht im Wege zustehe. Sie weist darauf hin, dass jemand, der eine Verletzung überlebt habe, am gefährlichsten sei.
In einer angemieteten Wohnung nehmen Anna und Stephen, der den Zimmerschlüssel außen stecken lässt, die Affäre wieder auf. Nichtsahnend kommt Martyn, der von der Wohnung und Problemem mit Handwerkern erfahren hat, hinein und ertappt die beiden in flagranti, ohne Fremdeinwikung stürzt er über ein Geländer in die Tiefe. Die Beziehung ist nicht mehr zu verheimlichen, Stephens politische Karriere vorbei, ebenso seine Ehe.
Er zieht sich als einsamer Mann nach Griechenland zurück. Für Anna hat sich nichts geändert! Sie ist, wie Stephen erfährt, wie vorher und hat ein Kind mit ihrem besten Freund Peter Wetzler (Peter Stormare) , der der Mitauslöser für den Suizid ihres Bruders war und zu dem sie sich danach geflüchtet und eine Beziehung geführt hatte.

Der Film im Jahr 1992 gedreht von Louis Malle erhält eine grossartige Atmosphäre durch die wunderbare Filmusik von Zbginiew Preisner, der auch die Musik zu mehreren Filmen des legendären polnischen Regisseurs Kieslowski (Drei Farben: Rot-Weiß-Blau) komponiert hat Ich habe Preisners Musik im Film "Anonyma-Eine Frau in Berlin" mit Nina Hoss kennen und lieben gelernt. habe sie auch als CD, weitere CDs von Preisner sind ebenfalls zu erwerben. Und neben wunderbaren Drehorten punktet der Film vor allem durch die Darsteller, wobei ich neben Jereny Irons besonders Juliette Binoche und Miranda Richardson, letztere oscarnominiert für die beste Nebenrolle, hervorheben möchte. Die Szene mit der Auseinandersetzung mit dem Ehemann, der ihr den Sohn geraubt hat und sie wünschen lässt, er hätte sich umgebracht oder sie ihn nie kennengelernt, gehört zu den herausragendsten des Filmes. Jeremy Irons spielt gut und beeindruckt schon durch seine Ausstrahlung, aber was Juliette Binoche besonders in den Sexszenen zeigt, ist fast einmalig: hier geht es gar nicht um die Nacktheit und die fast an Parterreakrobatik erinnernde "Matratzengymnastik", sondern an Juliettes Mimik. Ich kann mich bein besten Willen nicht erinnern, dass eine Darstellerin selig machendes Lustgefühl, das strahlende pure Glück vor dem Höhepunkt derart wunderbar ausgedrückt hat, Riiiesenkompliment.

Was ist für mich das Thema? "Verhängnis ist ganz sicher kein Erotik-Film, die Nacktheit hier sieht man auch in Filmen mit FSK-12-Freigabe, manchmal sogar die primären Geschlechtsorgane, wenn auch nicht in Nahaufnahme. Und erotisch kann ich diese Szenen auch nicht finden, die beiden fallen meistens wie oben schon beschrieben über einander her. Diese Szenen beherrschen auch nicht den Film , und der Sex wird (und das ist richtig so in diesem Film) nicht gezeigt, als im gemeinsamen Schlafzimmer Ingrid sagt, was sie an Stephen so schätzt, und eindeutig gehört dazu auch der Sex mit ihm, zu dem sie ihn eindeutig bringen wird.
Ein Thema ist für mich das obsessive Begehren eines Mannes, der eine tolle Familie hat und einen hohen Rang in der Politik, welches ihn jede moralische Hemmung ausblenden lässt, die Fahrt von Brüssel zu dem jungen Paar nach Paris zeigt, dass diese Obsession fast sein ganzes Denken beherrscht, auch im Berufsalltag ist er öfter geistig abwesend.
Am wichtigste und interessantesten erscheint mir die Darstellung der gestörten Psyche von Anna. Als Kinder von Diplomaten sind sie alle paar Jahre in ein anderes Land gezogen, mitbedingt dadurch waren sie als Geschwister, die nie längere Bindungen oder Freundschaften eingehen konnten, neben Bruder und Schwester auch sich innig liebende engste Vertraute, eine Schicksalsgemeinschaft. Ihr Bruder Ashton war eifersüchtig auf Peter, mit dem Anna vor der Selbstötung unterwegs war, vielleicht bestanden seinerseits, wie Anna als Befürchtung andeutete, sogar mehr Gefühle als Geschwisterliebe, er war auf alle zukünftigen Partner inm Leben seiner Schwester im Vorhinein eifersüchtig, und als er sich Anna diesbezüglich erklären und vielleicht auch entschuldigen will. läßt Anna ihn nicht in ihr Zimmer und findet ihn am nächsten Tag mit aufgeschnittenen Armschlagadern verblutet vor. Sie stürzt sich dann in die Arme von Peter, ich denke, aus Schuldgefühl und um die Eifersucht des so geliebten Bruders im Nachhinein zu rechtfertigen.Die Beziehung zu Ashton ist durch nichts zu ersetzen, in ihrer tiefen Verletztheit hat sie nichts mehr zu verlieren, keine Angst und stürzt sich eventuell von einer überwiegend sexuell motivierten Beziehung in die nächste. Ob es Zufall oder Berechnung ist, aufgrund derer sie Stephen verführt, kann man diskutieren. Neben einer auf einem Foto mit Anna, Vater und Sohn erkennbaren Ähnlichkeit der Männer mag auch die von Annas Mutter gesehene Ähnlichkeit zwischen Martyn und dem toten Bruder eine Rolle spielen, und Martyn ist jetzt Ashton, nur darf sie mit ihm Sex haben, Stephen Flemming und andere Männer sind symbolisch für Peter, mit dem sie Sex hatte, um im Nachhinein den Freitod ihres Bruders zu rechtfertigen, den sie von allen Menschen am meisten geliebt hat. Nach dessen Tod kann ihr nichts Schlimmeres mehr passieren, und so kann sie hemmungslos ihre sexuellen Bedürfnisse ausleben, eine Leere füllen und zwischenzeitlich vergessen. Es handelt sich um eine "Wiedergutmachung" an Ashton, die sie hemmungslos auch genießt.
Martyn betrogen und tot, der hemmungslos alle Bedenken über Bord werfende Stephen, dem seine obsessive Triebhaftigkeit über alles geht, ein Eremit, Ingrid eine um ihr Leben betrogene Frau, der ihr Sohn geraubt worden ist; und ist und bleibt Anna unbeschadet? Sie wird weiterleben wie bisher, ihr Trauma hat sie mit dem Verlust des ihr liebsten Menschen erlitten, was sie zu der gemacht hat, die sie ist. Sie kann nicht mehr schlimmer verletzt werden, glücklich sein wird sie nie, ihr Trauma und ihre dadurch gestörte Psyche sind für mich das Hauptthema dieses großartigen Filmes.

Doc Halliday
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