Directed by
David Slade
104 minutes
Rated R
Reviewed by
Sharon Hurst
Hard Candy
Synopsis: Hayley Stark (Ellen Page) is a 14-year-old girl, who frequents internet chat rooms where she meets 32 year old photographer Jeff Kohler (Patrick Wilson). The pair decide to meet in person and Hayley goes with Jeff to his house. Our fears for her soon turn into fears for Jeff, as Hayley knocks him out, straps him to a table, and informs him she will perform a castration on him, as he is (according to Hayley) obviously a paedophile, and may even be implicated in the recent murder of a young woman. As the tables turn and turn again we wonder who is the perpetrator and who is the victim.Commercial and video director David Slade’s first feature is one of those very unsettling films where we recognise that it is extremely well made and well acted, but the subject matter is so distressing that it’s hard to make a measured judgment of the film. What with the forthcoming The Book of Revelation, films about female sexual revenge seem to be the fashion, but when the female is only 14, there are some highly questionable moral issues at stake.
Despite its revulsion quotient, Hard Candy had me in its thrall, due largely to the excellent performances by both Page and Wilson. Page expertly blends innocence and teen sexuality, as she wavers between adolescent chit chat and the banter of sexual experimentation. And when she starts in on her torture of Jeff, despite the fact that very adult concepts issue from her mouth, she delivers them with absolute conviction. Wilson is a great choice for this character about whom we will feel constantly ambivalent. Seemingly too “nice” to be the monster Hayley accuses him of being, he nevertheless exudes a threatening undercurrent of cunning. The extreme close-ups employed on each character’s face serve to engage us intimately in their nature and to heighten the constant tension of the plot. The psychological battle in which the two engage is a game with constantly shifting boundaries: as the tables turn again and again we are left endlessly wondering just who is telling the truth, who is the real psychopath, and with whom our sympathies lie.
Interestingly, nothing of an explicit nature is shown, neither in the sexual department nor the violence stakes. All the horror stems from what isn’t shown, what the audience thinks is happening, and again, the close-ups of the characters’ reactions. The confined space of Jeff’s apartment and its colour palette, with emphasis on red, also adds greatly to the tension of the film; there is absolute minimalism to the sets, so we are again forced to focus back in on the characters.
No doubt many will deem the film a form of torture pornography and exploitation in its own right. Those people should of course keep away. What is challenging for those of us who like a good moral dilemma, is to observe our own reactions throughout the viewing. The script and direction are so clever that, even as we are ready to pass judgment on one or other of the characters, we launch afresh into internal questioning over the truth and morality of the situation with which we are presented. Is Jeff deserving of what he gets, or is Hayley a psychoteen who should be put away? See it and find out…if you’re game!!
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