Perfect Strangers – movie review

To state the bleeding obvious, mobile phone have become ubiquitous. For many of us, it feels like our whole lives are invested in them and the most personal and intimate details of day-to-day existence are stored there. So, how would you feel if your nearest and dearest had access to everything contained on your mobile? Would you be okay with that or do you have something to hide? That is the contention at the heart of Perfect Strangers, an Italian comedic drama directed and co-written by Paolo Genovese.

Three 30-something couples and a bachelor gather around a dining table to share a meal and good conversation. One of them suggests playing a game, whereby all SMS and phone calls that arrive during the course of the night are revealed to others around the table. It seems like a bit of harmless entertainment, an innocent experiment, but of course it turns out to be anything but that and results in some eye-opening disclosures. Perfect Strangers is a cinematic take on a classic morality conundrum.

Before the evening starts, it is clear that two of the couples are having some marital problems, while the third has only recently married, but the male in that relationship is very much “a ladies’ man”. So, you could argue that this is hardly the perfect setting for such a game, which was always bound to end badly … but, of course, play it they do. Perfect Strangers begins as largely comedic, with the couples enjoying each other’s company, but at some point the mood shifts. Suddenly, this no longer seems like fun and then the revelations – the surprises and shocks that threaten to tear these friends apart – keep on coming.

It is a clever and inventive script, a topic ripe for the picking … and so relevant in the age in which we live. The harder it got for the “players” the more I enjoyed it. What was squirm material for the characters was deliciously wicked for me … and, I dare say, will be for you too. Some of the personas are more engaging than others, but that hardly seems to matter because many of them fall into the Venus flytrap. This was bound to happen the moment they all agreed – some more reluctantly than others – to participate, but the die was cast at that time.

Also watch out for two endings – one if, indeed, what goes down in the movie comes to pass and another if they decided not to play the game. Rated M, Perfect Strangers scores a 7½ out of 10.

Director: Paolo Genovese
Cast: Marco Giallini, Anna Foglietta, Giuseppe Battiston
Release Date: 26 January 2017
Rating: M

Alex First

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