Gerald’s Game is a Netflix adaptation of a Stephen King novel with the same title about a woman who is handcuffed to a bed in a weekend away gone wrong and must figure out a way to survive. Carla Gugino, one of my favorite actors from Karen Sisco, an ABC drama series, and Threshold, a CBS sci-fi series that I’m still angry was cancelled, stars in the movie. She is a Zack Snyder favorite because she has no fear of nudity, but I think that a lot of filmmakers forget about her other assets.
Gerald’s Game starts off shaky and gathers momentum as it unfolds. The early scenes with the couple (before they reach the pivotal bedroom) made it seem like they just met each other, not that they had been married for a considerable time and hit a rocky patch. I also think that external factors distracted me from the film so I was unable to give it my complete attention, which is always a negative in home viewing. I may give it another chance later on and completely revise my opinion of the movie.
Gerald’s Game has a few of solid factors. Gugino can carry the film and play her character in two different ways convincingly in the same scene. You instantly know which one is real and which one is her imagination. I like Bruce Greenwood, but his delivery feels more self-conscious and suited for a play, a stage performance, than a naturalistic rendering. The flashbacks have the most vibrant colors that perfectly anchor the present horror and reward us with the contrasting, natural end. The gore is not reminiscent of Giallo or J Horror, but it is realistically gruesome enough to make me turn my head away on occasion. The sound effects don’t let you escape.
The central theme of Gerald’s Game, her suppression and denial of abuse leading to more abuse, lends retroactive credibility to her character’s earlier obliviousness. The most painful scenes are the ways that the younger Jessie is manipulated and basically becomes divorced from her family and reality, i.e. she is in constant denial that what is happening is happening in order to avoid thinking about the implications and what that means for next steps. I remember reading the story in the past so I was not shocked by past events. (If you did not, I’m not sure if you will be disturbed or not. It could be worse, but it is still awful, mostly psychologically, and you will want to reach into the fictional past and shake people into stop being busy and notice.) Even when she escapes, she still reasonably doubts herself.
I think that now is the perfect time for Netflix to release Gerald’s Game. I ask myself whom Jessie and Gerald would vote for in November 2016, especially in light of the joke story. I’m not sure that the answer is obvious. If they voted in line with others in Alabama, it is consistent with the couple’s narrative. On the other hand, Gerald is a respected, wealthy attorney who may prefer to be seen in a certain light. Jessie definitely has a different image of who they are before and after the film. Doesn’t denial work in other ways if you keep your negative side tucked away from others and say the right things most of the time? I don’t think that the answer is obvious. There is the face that we present to the world and the real self.
I think that a lot of people forget that even though Gerald’s Game is set indoors, it is a clever twist on the survival adventure category, which includes Into the Wild, 127 Hours, Cast Away. Part of the delicious tension in the film is placing yourself in the main character’s shoes and wondering if you would end up in a similar situation (NO), and if you did, would you be able to figure out a way to get out and survive (NO). The delight of the film is when real Jessie merges into imagined Jessie, instead of the fractured girl cut in half during an eclipse.
If you are looking for empty thrills, definitely skip Gerald’s Game, but if you are looking for a psychologically disturbing survival film that confronts the spectrum of abuse, definitely check it out.