Oh that’s just great! Another Crazy Lesbian cliché, like we haven’t gotten enough of those already! What is this, 2014!!?!
Oh wait…
Wait, wait, wait! Is that really Lucy Frikkin Griffiths and Cassidy Freeman acting in a ‘gay’ movie?! No way! I don’t believe it! I have seen the movie but I still don’t believe it!
And really if I am being honest, the first reason I even considered watching this (that crazy part turns me off so hard) is because of these two, especially Lucy! I don’t know what it is about her features but women with those features are my jam! Lucy, Rachel Weisz and Jennifer Connelly! Those three women have something in common about their features that every time I watch a movie they are in I can’t seem to get them out of my head!
What is it about them?!
Lucy plays Nora, our mysterious main character who moves back into her grandmother’s house after her passing and leaving it to her to help her get over her writer’s block. Over there she bumps into a traveller in our other woman Peyton, even more mysterious than Nora and turns out to be no so crazy, actually, not crazy at all! The movie came out in 2014! Which begs the question, what’s with the opening line then?!
Well, while Peyton may not be crazy, in the end anyway. Up until then she was presented as being crazy, she was taking pills for crying out loud and she had these moments that are a staple in crazy characters as they gradually lose their grasp on reality!
And not just her! Nora too had signs but hers were so well hidden, and I commend the movie for this – I was really fooled on that one. But she too had signs. Hell, the movie opens with her talking to a psychiatrist! The person who recommends her to go back to her grandmother’s house!
Seeing as you came to read this, and I pretty sire you are not new here, and if you are new here is the deal – All movies I share my thoughts on, their posts are filled with spoilers because I need to say things as they are! With that out of the way, this movie tries! It really tries! I mean, I was not expecting something even remotely close to what we got with this cast so really, I am happy but still, it only tried!
The story too we have seen before! The writer and director only managed to hide the threads a bit deeper than usual but it is always in the back of your mind – the twist! They keep pushing for the Peyton is crazy narrative until the very last moments so your brain is kind of stopped from grasping onto the inevitable twist but you still can feel it, if you are paying attention!
And that twist is that it is actually our main character Nora who is crazy! Rarely do you see main characters being the crazy ones, most especially in Lesbian movies! You just know that expendable secondary character will be the crazy one so that the writers have the excuse of erasing her from existence after striking fear in girls and women all over the world with the narrative that lesbians are crazy people!
I guess I should give them another point here since if you think of Nora as straight then that means the straight one was the crazy one this time? But was Peyton really a lesbian? I mean the real Peyton! Is she even still alive!?!
Lost? Well, let’s get back to the story! You find out in the twist, that happens like I said towards the very end, that Nora is crazy. Peyton was not here with her in her life at all. She was just a figment of her imagination! But it was hidden so well that I felt like clapping that they managed to fool me! At the end you see it – Nora who had her hair down, once Peyton disappears and we finally see Nora for what she is, she is wearing her hair exactly like how Peyton had had it just moments before she disappeared.
We then find out that Peyton was a woman who was in Nora’s childhood when she was still living with her Grandmother. Peyton was a either a teacher or a guide, I am not sure but she was only in Nora’s life when she was still young! So the Peyton we have been seeing with her all throughout the movie was not real!
So then, what does it all mean? What does Peyton’s advances towards Nora mean? If Nora is using her as comfort in her troubled adult life it means that Peyton did not do something bad to her as a child. Does it mean that Nora has had a crush on that woman from her childhood all this time?! Does it mean Nora is gay?!
But of course the fact that she re-flames with a guy from her childhood and they even have sex will have other dismiss that idea. At the very least they will think she was Bi! And maybe she is but she sure had more passion with Peyton than she did the Guy! I mean she watched one night as Peyton had some with a guy. Then she did not react at all when Peyton one morning came up being Nora’s flame and kissed him in front of Nora without the guy noticing that it was someone else! Then they have a fight and the jealousy card comes up and Peyton incredulously asks “You think I want him?!” to which Nora answers “I think you want me!”
Nay, Nora is super gay!
They really hard some cute moments too that I am sure there is lots of FanFiction of…if people did not hate the ‘trying’ part of this movie so much! I mean I understand why the community would not like this movie. Hell, even the kiss was in the ‘trying’ category! After the failed attempt of Peyton kissing Nora in the woods, Nora comes over to her room to apologise for before saying that she had never been with another woman (oohh)! Peyton silences her with a finger on a lip first then leaning in and kissing her…over the finger! And so, while it actually doesn’t look effective because their lips are totally touching, the mere fact that there is something between their lips is a turn off!
And while I too frowned a bit at that, I still took the two positive things away from that scene! The first thing is the fact that Nora came over to apologise! How many times have you seen a crush coming over to apologise for turning away from a kiss or reacting badly to it?! I most definitely have not! Usually it is the kisser that apologises. Either that or things turn real awkward real fast and some use that as fuel for drama and eventual ‘lesbian shut-down!
The other part is the actual kiss itself! The finger thing is actually cute and followed with the smile Nora gives after the kiss, but most importantly her reaction after where she trips on her descent down the stairs, those moments make up for the ‘trying’ to me!
Other cute moments include Peyton’s reaction to being allowed to be Nora’s roommate, the two going shopping, Peyton always being their for Nora as her knight, the woods scene, Peyton’s hugs and so much more!
Such great yuri moments but in the end…all just potential. Wasted potential!
But, I already said I am on a mission to be positive so I look at this as just a snapshot of Nora’s life! it doesn’t matter i they lasted for hours, months,years. The fact is that they happened! Ten years later things are different? Who cares, it is happening now! It has happened! it is and will always be, this moment in time that they are together!
What we see in the movie is a snapshot. We see that snapshot because it is unforgettable! It is the most important in Nora’s life and will always be.
I guess what I am trying to say ere is that…I will take it! I mean this is Lucy we are talking about here and it is a main character too. This is more than I expected so I appreciate the ‘trying’ here.
And really, this was 2014 – The Pre-Handmaiden era! Don’t Look Back gets a pass and I recommend it if you have not seen it yet!
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