The Perfection: Difference between revisions
m Reverted edits by 122.176.204.21 (talk): not providing a reliable source (WP:CITE, WP:RS) (HG) (3.4.11) |
No edit summary |
||
(38 intermediate revisions by 16 users not shown) | |||
Line 25: | Line 25: | ||
| cinematography = Vanja Černjul |
| cinematography = Vanja Černjul |
||
| editing = David Dean |
| editing = David Dean |
||
| production_companies |
| production_companies = {{Plainlist| |
||
* [[Miramax]] |
* [[Miramax]] |
||
* Capstone Film Group |
* Capstone Film Group |
||
Line 31: | Line 31: | ||
| distributor = [[Netflix]] |
| distributor = [[Netflix]] |
||
| released = {{Film date|2018|9|20|[[Fantastic Fest]]|2019|5|24|United States}} |
| released = {{Film date|2018|9|20|[[Fantastic Fest]]|2019|5|24|United States}} |
||
| runtime = 90 minutes<ref>{{cite web|url=https://fantasticfest.com/films/the-perfection/|title=The Perfection|website=[[Fantastic Fest]]|accessdate=December 26, 2018}}</ref> |
| runtime = 90 minutes<ref>{{cite web|url=https://fantasticfest.com/films/the-perfection/|title=The Perfection|website=[[Fantastic Fest]]|accessdate=December 26, 2018|archive-date=December 26, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226133701/https://fantasticfest.com/films/the-perfection/|url-status=dead}}</ref> |
||
| country = United States |
| country = United States |
||
| language = English |
| language = English |
||
Line 37: | Line 37: | ||
| gross = |
| gross = |
||
}} |
}} |
||
⚫ | |||
⚫ | |||
It had its world premiere at [[Fantastic Fest]] on September 20, 2018. It was released on May 24, 2019, by [[Netflix]]. |
|||
''The Perfection'' had its world premiere at [[Fantastic Fest]] on September 20, 2018, and was released by [[Netflix]] on May 24, 2019. The film received mixed reviews from critics.<ref name="metacritic">{{cite web|url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-perfection|title=The Perfection Reviews|website=[[Metacritic]]|publisher=[[CBS Interactive]]|accessdate=September 1, 2019}}</ref> |
|||
⚫ | |||
⚫ | Charlotte Willmore is a talented young [[cellist]] who |
||
⚫ | |||
⚫ | |||
⚫ | Charlotte Willmore is a talented young [[cellist]] who left Bachoff, a prestigious music school in [[Boston]], to care for her terminally ill mother. Following her mother's death, Charlotte reaches out to Anton, the head of Bachoff, who invites her to [[Shanghai]] in hopes of selecting a new student. Charlotte befriends Elizabeth “Lizzie” Wells, Anton's star pupil and her replacement. After a night of clubbing, they return to Lizzie's hotel room and have sex. |
||
⚫ | The next morning, Charlotte offers the [[hangover|hungover]] Lizzie some [[ibuprofen]], which she takes with alcohol, and the two go on a trip through rural China. Boarding a bus after a street food meal, Lizzie feels sick and takes more of Charlotte's ibuprofen. Lizzie later throws up maggots and panics, frightening the other passengers until the driver kicks her and Charlotte from the bus. Increasingly ill and paranoid, Lizzie hallucinates bugs bursting out of her skin. Charlotte offers her a meat [[cleaver]], and Lizzie hacks off her right hand. It is revealed that Charlotte drugged Lizzie with her late mother's medication, which induces nausea and hallucinations as well as stealing the meat cleaver and manipulating Lizzie into amputating herself. |
||
It is revealed that Charlotte drugged Lizzie with medication prescribed to Charlotte's late mother, which can induce hallucinations (especially when consumed with alcohol), stole the meat cleaver from the food stall, and manipulated Lizzie into cutting off her own hand. |
|||
Three weeks later, Anton and Paloma give their new student from China, Zhang Li, a tour of Bachoff and the "Chapel," an acoustically perfect room where the academy's best students perform. That night, Lizzie arrives unexpectedly, her right hand missing. She explains her recollection of events to Anton and Paloma, and that she was discovered unconscious on the side of the road with a makeshift [[tourniquet]] |
Three weeks later, Anton and his wife, Paloma, give their new student from China, Zhang Li, a tour of Bachoff and the "Chapel," an acoustically perfect room where the academy's best students perform. That night, Lizzie arrives unexpectedly, her right hand missing. She explains her recollection of events to Anton and Paloma, and that she was discovered unconscious on the side of the road with a makeshift [[tourniquet]] keeping her alive. Lizzie is adamant that Charlotte orchestrated the incident out of jealousy. Anton, initially sympathetic, turns cold and expels Lizzie from the academy. |
||
Lizzie |
Lizzie confronts Charlotte in her home, subdues her with a taser, and drags her back to Bachoff. When Charlotte awakens, she is confronted by Anton and reveals why she orchestrated Lizzie's dismemberment. Charlotte figured out Bachoff's elite students are indoctrinated and forced to "[[Child sexual abuse|pay the price]]" by Anton's sex cult. In flashbacks, Charlotte had also experienced years of [[rape]] and torture at the hands of Anton for failing to achieve musical "Perfection." She planned Lizzie's amputation to save her from Bachoff. |
||
Anton brings Charlotte to the Chapel and forces her to perform, saying a small mistake will result in Zhang receiving the same treatment. Unsettled, Charlotte eventually makes a mistake. Everyone leaves except Anton's associates, Theis and Geoffrey, who prepare to [[Gang rape|rape]] her. Lizzie threatens to rape Charlotte with her hand stump as revenge, but Theis and Geoffrey suddenly collapse and die. Lizzie and Charlotte kiss and it is revealed the two conspired together, poisoning the men's drinks. Charlotte's plot to render Lizzie expendable to the academy resulted in Lizzie coming to her senses about Anton's [[brainwashing]], and together they plotted revenge. |
|||
Some unspecified time later, Anton, his mouth and eyes sewn shut and limbs amputated, is forced to listen as Charlotte and Lizzie perform for him in the Chapel playing as one, each compensating for the other's missing hand. |
The two drug and kill Paloma, then confront Anton, armed with kitchen knives. Anton manages to mutilate Charlotte's left arm before Lizzie knocks him unconscious. Some unspecified time later, Anton, his mouth and eyes sewn shut and limbs amputated, is forced to listen as Charlotte and Lizzie perform for him in the Chapel playing as one, each compensating for the other's missing hand. |
||
==Cast== |
==Cast== |
||
* [[Allison Williams (actress)|Allison Williams]] as Charlotte Willmore |
* [[Allison Williams (actress)|Allison Williams]] as Charlotte Willmore |
||
** Molly Grace as |
** Molly Grace as young Charlotte Willmore |
||
* [[Logan Browning]] as Elizabeth "Lizzie" Wells |
* [[Logan Browning]] as Elizabeth "Lizzie" Wells |
||
** Milah Thompson as |
** Milah Thompson as young Elizabeth "Lizzie" Wells |
||
* [[Steven Weber (actor)|Steven Weber]] as Anton, the head of Bachoff Academy. |
* [[Steven Weber (actor)|Steven Weber]] as Anton, the head of Bachoff Academy who is secretly running an abusive [[sex cult]]. |
||
* [[Alaina Huffman]] as Paloma, Anton's wife |
* [[Alaina Huffman]] as Paloma, Anton's wife |
||
* Mark Kandborg as Theis |
* Mark Kandborg as Theis |
||
Line 75: | Line 74: | ||
==Reception== |
==Reception== |
||
On the [[review aggregator]] website [[Rotten Tomatoes]], the film holds an approval rating of {{RT data|score}} based on {{RT data|count}} reviews, with an average of {{RT data|average}}. The website's critical consensus reads: "Led by a pair of compelling performances, ''The Perfection'' is a smart, gripping thriller that barbs its wild twists with cutting wit."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_perfection|title=The Perfection (2018)|website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]]|publisher=[[Fandango Media|Fandango]]|access-date={{RT data|access date}}}}</ref> On [[Metacritic]], it has a weighted average score of 60 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".<ref |
On the [[review aggregator]] website [[Rotten Tomatoes]], the film holds an approval rating of {{RT data|score}} based on {{RT data|count}} reviews, with an average of {{RT data|average}}. The website's critical consensus reads: "Led by a pair of compelling performances, ''The Perfection'' is a smart, gripping thriller that barbs its wild twists with cutting wit."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_perfection|title=The Perfection (2018)|website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]]|publisher=[[Fandango Media|Fandango]]|access-date={{RT data|access date}}}}</ref> On [[Metacritic]], it has a weighted average score of 60 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".<ref name="metacritic" /> |
||
Dennis Harvey of [[Variety (magazine)|''Variety'']] wrote that the film's story "is easier to admire than actually like, given somewhat repellent content grounded in character psychology that does not bear close scrutiny after these terse 90 minutes are over", but added: "the icily well-crafted gamesmanship Shepard and company have devised certainly makes that time pass quickly, if uncomfortably."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Harvey |first=Dennis |date=2020-01-01 |title='The Perfection': Film Review |url=https://variety.com/2019/film/reviews/the-perfection-review-1203437994/ |access-date=2022-10-16 |website=Variety |language=en-US}}</ref> Katie Rife of ''[[The A.V. Club]]'' gave the film a grade of |
Dennis Harvey of [[Variety (magazine)|''Variety'']] wrote that the film's story "is easier to admire than actually like, given somewhat repellent content grounded in character psychology that does not bear close scrutiny after these terse 90 minutes are over", but added: "the icily well-crafted gamesmanship Shepard and company have devised certainly makes that time pass quickly, if uncomfortably."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Harvey |first=Dennis |date=2020-01-01 |title='The Perfection': Film Review |url=https://variety.com/2019/film/reviews/the-perfection-review-1203437994/ |access-date=2022-10-16 |website=Variety |language=en-US}}</ref> Katie Rife of ''[[The A.V. Club]]'' gave the film a grade of B−, writing that it "takes deep, fetishistic satisfaction in pushing the envelope, then pushing it some more, building in seductive fits and shocking starts to an orgiastic frenzy of cinematic excess."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rife |first=Katie |date=2019-05-23 |title=The Perfection is a shamelessly trashy B-movie in elevated horror drag |url=https://www.avclub.com/the-perfection-is-a-shamelessly-trashy-b-movie-in-eleva-1834978651 |access-date=2022-10-16 |website=The A.V. Club |language=en}}</ref> |
||
Barry Hertz of ''[[The Globe and Mail]]'' was more critical, giving the film a score of 1.5/4 and writing: "most everyone who watches ''The Perfection'' will instead be staring at the screen slack-jawed, dumbfounded at the gory silliness they endured."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hertz |first=Barry |date=2019-05-23 |title=Review: Netflix's gross Black Swan-esque thriller The Perfection falls far short of its title promise |language=en-CA |work=The Globe and Mail |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/film/reviews/article-netflixs-gross-black-swan-esque-thriller-the-perfection-falls-far/ |access-date=2022-10-16}}</ref> |
Barry Hertz of ''[[The Globe and Mail]]'' was more critical, giving the film a score of 1.5/4 and writing: "most everyone who watches ''The Perfection'' will instead be staring at the screen slack-jawed, dumbfounded at the gory silliness they endured."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hertz |first=Barry |date=2019-05-23 |title=Review: Netflix's gross Black Swan-esque thriller The Perfection falls far short of its title promise |language=en-CA |work=The Globe and Mail |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/film/reviews/article-netflixs-gross-black-swan-esque-thriller-the-perfection-falls-far/ |access-date=2022-10-16}}</ref> |
||
Line 101: | Line 100: | ||
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perfection}} |
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perfection}} |
||
[[Category:2018 films]] |
[[Category:2018 films]] |
||
[[Category:2018 |
[[Category:2018 LGBTQ-related films]] |
||
[[Category:2010s feminist films]] |
[[Category:2010s feminist films]] |
||
[[Category:2018 horror thriller films]] |
[[Category:2018 horror thriller films]] |
||
Line 109: | Line 108: | ||
[[Category:American films about revenge]] |
[[Category:American films about revenge]] |
||
[[Category:American horror thriller films]] |
[[Category:American horror thriller films]] |
||
[[Category:American |
[[Category:American LGBTQ-related films]] |
||
[[Category:American nonlinear narrative films]] |
[[Category:American nonlinear narrative films]] |
||
[[Category:American psychological horror films]] |
[[Category:American psychological horror films]] |
||
Line 123: | Line 122: | ||
[[Category:Films set in Shanghai]] |
[[Category:Films set in Shanghai]] |
||
[[Category:Lesbian-related films]] |
[[Category:Lesbian-related films]] |
||
[[Category: |
[[Category:LGBTQ-related horror thriller films]] |
||
[[Category:Miramax films]] |
[[Category:Miramax films]] |
||
[[Category:English-language |
[[Category:English-language horror thriller films]] |
||
[[Category:Netflix original films]] |
|||
[[Category:American rape and revenge films]] |
[[Category:American rape and revenge films]] |
||
[[Category:Films directed by Richard Shepard]] |
[[Category:Films directed by Richard Shepard]] |
Latest revision as of 20:42, 22 December 2024
The Perfection | |
---|---|
Directed by | Richard Shepard |
Written by |
|
Produced by |
|
Starring | |
Cinematography | Vanja Černjul |
Edited by | David Dean |
Music by | Paul Haslinger |
Production companies |
|
Distributed by | Netflix |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 90 minutes[1] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
The Perfection is a 2018 American psychological horror thriller film co-written and directed by Richard Shepard. The film stars Allison Williams, Logan Browning, Steven Weber, and Alaina Huffman.
The Perfection had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest on September 20, 2018, and was released by Netflix on May 24, 2019. The film received mixed reviews from critics.[2]
Plot
[edit]Charlotte Willmore is a talented young cellist who left Bachoff, a prestigious music school in Boston, to care for her terminally ill mother. Following her mother's death, Charlotte reaches out to Anton, the head of Bachoff, who invites her to Shanghai in hopes of selecting a new student. Charlotte befriends Elizabeth “Lizzie” Wells, Anton's star pupil and her replacement. After a night of clubbing, they return to Lizzie's hotel room and have sex.
The next morning, Charlotte offers the hungover Lizzie some ibuprofen, which she takes with alcohol, and the two go on a trip through rural China. Boarding a bus after a street food meal, Lizzie feels sick and takes more of Charlotte's ibuprofen. Lizzie later throws up maggots and panics, frightening the other passengers until the driver kicks her and Charlotte from the bus. Increasingly ill and paranoid, Lizzie hallucinates bugs bursting out of her skin. Charlotte offers her a meat cleaver, and Lizzie hacks off her right hand. It is revealed that Charlotte drugged Lizzie with her late mother's medication, which induces nausea and hallucinations as well as stealing the meat cleaver and manipulating Lizzie into amputating herself.
Three weeks later, Anton and his wife, Paloma, give their new student from China, Zhang Li, a tour of Bachoff and the "Chapel," an acoustically perfect room where the academy's best students perform. That night, Lizzie arrives unexpectedly, her right hand missing. She explains her recollection of events to Anton and Paloma, and that she was discovered unconscious on the side of the road with a makeshift tourniquet keeping her alive. Lizzie is adamant that Charlotte orchestrated the incident out of jealousy. Anton, initially sympathetic, turns cold and expels Lizzie from the academy.
Lizzie confronts Charlotte in her home, subdues her with a taser, and drags her back to Bachoff. When Charlotte awakens, she is confronted by Anton and reveals why she orchestrated Lizzie's dismemberment. Charlotte figured out Bachoff's elite students are indoctrinated and forced to "pay the price" by Anton's sex cult. In flashbacks, Charlotte had also experienced years of rape and torture at the hands of Anton for failing to achieve musical "Perfection." She planned Lizzie's amputation to save her from Bachoff.
Anton brings Charlotte to the Chapel and forces her to perform, saying a small mistake will result in Zhang receiving the same treatment. Unsettled, Charlotte eventually makes a mistake. Everyone leaves except Anton's associates, Theis and Geoffrey, who prepare to rape her. Lizzie threatens to rape Charlotte with her hand stump as revenge, but Theis and Geoffrey suddenly collapse and die. Lizzie and Charlotte kiss and it is revealed the two conspired together, poisoning the men's drinks. Charlotte's plot to render Lizzie expendable to the academy resulted in Lizzie coming to her senses about Anton's brainwashing, and together they plotted revenge.
The two drug and kill Paloma, then confront Anton, armed with kitchen knives. Anton manages to mutilate Charlotte's left arm before Lizzie knocks him unconscious. Some unspecified time later, Anton, his mouth and eyes sewn shut and limbs amputated, is forced to listen as Charlotte and Lizzie perform for him in the Chapel playing as one, each compensating for the other's missing hand.
Cast
[edit]- Allison Williams as Charlotte Willmore
- Molly Grace as young Charlotte Willmore
- Logan Browning as Elizabeth "Lizzie" Wells
- Milah Thompson as young Elizabeth "Lizzie" Wells
- Steven Weber as Anton, the head of Bachoff Academy who is secretly running an abusive sex cult.
- Alaina Huffman as Paloma, Anton's wife
- Mark Kandborg as Theis
- Graeme Duffy as Geoffrey
- Eileen Tian as Zhang Li
Production
[edit]In September 2017, it was announced Miramax would produce and finance the film, with Richard Shepard, directing from a screenplay by himself, Nicole Snyder and Eric Charmelo, with Bill Block producing.[3] In October 2017, Allison Williams joined the cast of the film, with Stacey Reiss serving as a producer on the film.[4] In December 2017, Logan Browning joined the cast of the film.[5]
Release
[edit]The film had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest on September 20, 2018.[6] Shortly after, Netflix acquired distribution rights to the film.[7] It was released on May 24, 2019.[8]
Reception
[edit]On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 71% based on 99 reviews, with an average of 6.6/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Led by a pair of compelling performances, The Perfection is a smart, gripping thriller that barbs its wild twists with cutting wit."[9] On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 60 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[2]
Dennis Harvey of Variety wrote that the film's story "is easier to admire than actually like, given somewhat repellent content grounded in character psychology that does not bear close scrutiny after these terse 90 minutes are over", but added: "the icily well-crafted gamesmanship Shepard and company have devised certainly makes that time pass quickly, if uncomfortably."[10] Katie Rife of The A.V. Club gave the film a grade of B−, writing that it "takes deep, fetishistic satisfaction in pushing the envelope, then pushing it some more, building in seductive fits and shocking starts to an orgiastic frenzy of cinematic excess."[11]
Barry Hertz of The Globe and Mail was more critical, giving the film a score of 1.5/4 and writing: "most everyone who watches The Perfection will instead be staring at the screen slack-jawed, dumbfounded at the gory silliness they endured."[12]
Soundtrack
[edit]The soundtrack for the film features multiple classical arrangements of Bach, Mozart, and Handel, among others. It also features several non-classical tracks:
- "At Least I Still Have You" by Rose Liu (Jason Zachary Parris, Lestley Renaldo Pierce, Rose Liu)
- "Ready or Not" by Gizzle (Morgan Dorr, Timothy Healy, Glenda Proby)
- "Let's Make This a Moment to Remember" by Chromatics (Johnny Jewel)
- "It's On" by Deuce Mobb (Jonathan Pakfar)
- "Petals" by Chromatics (Courtney Love, Eric Erlandson, Billy Corgan)
References
[edit]- ^ "The Perfection". Fantastic Fest. Archived from the original on December 26, 2018. Retrieved December 26, 2018.
- ^ a b "The Perfection Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved September 1, 2019.
- ^ Fleming, Mike Jr. (September 13, 2017). "Miramax Buys Richard Shepard's Next Pic, 'The Perfection'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved December 26, 2018.
- ^ Busch, Anita (October 27, 2017). "Allison Willliams Toplines Horror Thriller 'The Perfection' For Director Richard Shepard". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved December 26, 2018.
- ^ N'Duka, Amanda (December 18, 2017). "'Dear White People' Star Logan Browning Joins Allison Williams In 'The Perfection'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved December 26, 2018.
- ^ Day-Ramos, Dino (September 17, 2018). "Fantastic Fest Adds Horror 'The Perfection' And 'Fugue' To Lineup". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved December 26, 2018.
- ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (October 5, 2018). "Allison Williams & Logan Browning Miramax Thriller 'The Perfection' Snapped Up By Netflix". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved December 26, 2018.
- ^ Hasty, Katie (December 30, 2018). "Here's every 2019 movie release date so far". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
- ^ "The Perfection (2018)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved October 10, 2021.
- ^ Harvey, Dennis (January 1, 2020). "'The Perfection': Film Review". Variety. Retrieved October 16, 2022.
- ^ Rife, Katie (May 23, 2019). "The Perfection is a shamelessly trashy B-movie in elevated horror drag". The A.V. Club. Retrieved October 16, 2022.
- ^ Hertz, Barry (May 23, 2019). "Review: Netflix's gross Black Swan-esque thriller The Perfection falls far short of its title promise". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved October 16, 2022.
External links
[edit]- 2018 films
- 2018 LGBTQ-related films
- 2010s feminist films
- 2018 horror thriller films
- 2010s psychological horror films
- 2018 psychological thriller films
- American feminist films
- American films about revenge
- American horror thriller films
- American LGBTQ-related films
- American nonlinear narrative films
- American psychological horror films
- American psychological thriller films
- 2010s English-language films
- Films about child sexual abuse
- Films about classical music and musicians
- Films about cults
- Films produced by Bill Block
- Films scored by Paul Haslinger
- Films set in Boston
- Films set in Minnesota
- Films set in Shanghai
- Lesbian-related films
- LGBTQ-related horror thriller films
- Miramax films
- English-language horror thriller films
- Netflix original films
- American rape and revenge films
- Films directed by Richard Shepard
- 2010s American films