The movie Men was released on 20 May 2022 and is rated R as there are some disturbing and violent content, graphic nudity, and inappropriate language. The central idea of the movie is basically just a metaphor about toxic men, creating the same, and so on and so forth, refusing to change. It has gotten positive as well as negative reviews from the audience.
The main characters, Harper Marlowe and Geoffrey (as well as the others who “resembled” him), are played by Jessie Buckley and Rory Kinnear, respectively. The late husband of Harper, played by Paapa Essiedu and is known as James Marlowe in the movie. And finally, Harper’s friend Riley is played by Gayle Rankin. With this simple cast, the movie has quite an impact on our present-day society.
Toxic masculinity is something we see more or less in our lives, and the major reason for the creation of toxic masculinity is our Damned society. This movie may be confusing and does not have an exact meaning. It may be that Harper has PTSD, and that’s why all these happenings occur, or maybe they actually happen just to prove to Harper that all men are toxic. It’s all about how you take the movie.
In this movie, Harper’s late husband, James, dies because of suicide, and this haunts her. She suffers from trauma and is stuck in a continuous guilt loop. Harper assumes that all men are the same and all the men blame her for the mistakes that happen, even if it isn’t her fault.
She goes away to a village called Cotson in Herefordshire. Going there, her trauma worsens, and strange things start to happen. This scares her, and she also retells the obnoxious things happening all around her to Riley, her friend.
The movie also shows how guilt and abuse can have a drastic impact on your life. In the movie, Harper goes through all five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. There are also certain scenes in the movie that may be frightening or even disturbing to some viewers.
Men – Review
In the movie, Harper is abused and guilt-tripped by her husband. She has had enough of this and tries to get a divorce; James threatens her by claiming to suicide if she does so, and also brain-washing her that she would have to remain with the guilt that she was the reason that he died.
While this guilt is still fresh in her mind, James yet again abuses her, causing Harper to exceed her patience, and hence she locks James outside. He tries to apologize, but Harper refuses to hear him out no matter what, saying that she is done with the guilt. James tries to climb back to the house by jumping from the neighbor’s roof to their balcony.
In doing so, he fails and falls to his death, with his ankles broken and impaled by the fence. To her, unfortunately, James is looking out the window as all this happens and assumes that her husband has committed suicide.
To relieve herself of stress, she decided to come to a simple village, and that’s where she meets Geoffrey, an eccentric yet kind man who offers her a place to stay. Pleased, she decided to refresh her mind and go for a refreshing walk. The work turns out to be a huge mistake, and when she notices someone running to her while screaming, terrified, she runs as far away as she can.
Turning back, she sees a naked man watching her; shivering with shock, she returns home. She is even more distressed when she comes to know that the police have set the naked man free, as there was no reason to keep him captive. The following day, she sees the same naked man while on the phone with Riley; she quickly locks the door, but the man manages to stick his fingers through the mail slot/letterbox.
Immediately, she calls the police, and they arrive on the scene and arrest him and take him away. Shook and frightened, she goes to church and realizes that a young boy she met, who had gotten mad at her for not playing with him, and the vicar, she talked to and had blamed her for a reason for James’s death, looked eerily similar to Geoffrey.
After disclosing the events that had taken place, both Riley and Harper decide that it would be better if Riley stayed with Harper for the rest of her trip. As she is providing her address to Riley, she is faced with network issues. And then a message from Samuel, the young boy she met, comes through. That’s when Harper sees a policeman and also finds them gone.
As soon as the lights start to flicker, then she is chased by pub patrons who also look like Geoffrey. Finally, back at the house, Harper lets out a yelp as a window breaks. Geoffrey comes to assess the damage and sees that the reason for the breaking of the window is a crow that flew inside. He then proceeds to break the crow’s neck in an inhumane way.
Then the naked man shows up and puts his hand yet again through the letter box; this time, Harper holds his hand, and immediately, her hand is pulled forcefully. This is a metaphor, indicating that she trusts her husband again and again, hoping that each time will be better than the last, but ends up being abused and hurt.
She runs away, only to be sexually assaulted by the vicar; thankfully, she stabs him and runs away. Harper gets in her car and tries to flee but ends up running over Geoffrey, who then harshly pulls her out of the car and proceeds to chase her around.
Now the naked man appears to start giving birth to Samuel, who in turn gives birth to the vicar, and from him emerges Geoffrey, and finally, James is “birthed.” By this time, Harper is no more terrified; the look on her face is enough to show that she is completely done with all this nonsense and is giving up.
The rebirthing indicated the never-ending cycle of toxicity. James comes up to Harper and starts to explain that everything is her fault, and all that he wanted was her love, which she couldn’t give to him. The movie ends with Riley following a track of blood and finds Harper sitting out on the lawn and smiling at her.
What Do We Think?
This movie gives me mixed reactions. From an angle, it could be said as a masterpiece, or at least close to one. The way they bring the issue of toxicity and abuse into the movie, and also by the way that the movie could be a literal metaphor to anything that you can relate to.
The general idea that the movie gives off is that “all men are bad,” but this seems too stereotypical, doesn’t it? There might be more to the story, or there might not. It leaves it to us, the viewers, to find out. The movie might be confusing at first, and you might have to see it a second time to get a clear picture.
The ending is really strange and also doesn’t really seem like an ending. What does it indicate? Where are the other men? Why is Harper smiling? The movie ends with a lot of questions in the air, seeking answers.
There is no lack of suspense; the movie has exactly the right amount of thrill and suspense, which leaves us at the edge of our seats and biting our nails, wondering what will happen next. There are a lot of symbolic representations throughout the movie. Horror and creepy tones are set at the beginning of the movie, giving you a little sneak peek into what the movie might be all about.
The performance of Jessie as Harper and Rory as Geoffrey is the whole essence of the movie. They play the key elements that bring the whole movie together, and the best part is they play their roles to the point! Most of the scenes in the movie were well executed and perfectly performed.
Men – A Weird Mix Of Allegory And Symbolism…
To conclude, the movie is weird overall. The whole movie is just one tragic event after another, but maybe that is how it feels when you are suffering from PTSD (Post-traumatic stress disorder).
Even normal stress causes us to act raged and weird, so of course, traumatic stress makes you go bonkers. A positive aspect of the film is that it brings into light the ways that women can be guilt-trapped and shamed and made to think that they are the root cause of problems.
Our Rating: 3.8/5.
