I thought this was an exceptionally well-directed, superbly-acted movie with a winding (albeit erotic!) plot . . . but a terrible, "didn't see it coming" end. The end was abrupt and totally out of place. At the very least, the "cuckoo" suggested in the title should've died off and the story should've then ended with Eva and her lover boy staring off into the sunset together
Without yielding spoilers, I will also say pish posh to all the hogwash about how it should have been an easy choice for her to abandon her "dreamer" boy and stay with the "one that loved her." The one that loved her did not love her, folks--he was a sick, depraved, mentally-ill soul who could not love properly, treat her properly, nor ever perceive her properly. He could not even relate properly to the real world let alone truly "love" Eva. He was a twisted, childish narcissist incapable of rendering her a suitable existence--unlike his dashing and mentally-sound rival. I wouldn't have even done for Harry what she did after the crazed stunt he pulled toward the movie's end--I would have left him to the State and not allowed him to manipulate me through his own self-destructive threats or actions like he did Eva. And then I would have happily sailed off with Joseph without batting an eye. Somehow in the movie she was made to bear the guilt and responsibility of every errant thought, motive, or action of Harry, and I don't think that was fair or deserving.
Despite the "too many unanswered questions" ending, the movie--though a bit predictable--draws one in and holds him to the end with an eerie blend of nostalgia, sweet sentamentalism, erotic interest, and blimey--that strange, unusual, and tentacular "twist" so prevalent in English films (where they almost twist away from the norm or conventional a bit . . . but then, is that just the English?)
The film is definitely worth its time.
Without yielding spoilers, I will also say pish posh to all the hogwash about how it should have been an easy choice for her to abandon her "dreamer" boy and stay with the "one that loved her." The one that loved her did not love her, folks--he was a sick, depraved, mentally-ill soul who could not love properly, treat her properly, nor ever perceive her properly. He could not even relate properly to the real world let alone truly "love" Eva. He was a twisted, childish narcissist incapable of rendering her a suitable existence--unlike his dashing and mentally-sound rival. I wouldn't have even done for Harry what she did after the crazed stunt he pulled toward the movie's end--I would have left him to the State and not allowed him to manipulate me through his own self-destructive threats or actions like he did Eva. And then I would have happily sailed off with Joseph without batting an eye. Somehow in the movie she was made to bear the guilt and responsibility of every errant thought, motive, or action of Harry, and I don't think that was fair or deserving.
Despite the "too many unanswered questions" ending, the movie--though a bit predictable--draws one in and holds him to the end with an eerie blend of nostalgia, sweet sentamentalism, erotic interest, and blimey--that strange, unusual, and tentacular "twist" so prevalent in English films (where they almost twist away from the norm or conventional a bit . . . but then, is that just the English?)
The film is definitely worth its time.