"Eye of the Beholder" is one of the most perplexing movies I've ever seen. Sometimes I can appreciate it when a movie doesn't explain everything, but thrillers like this need to be well-oiled machines. This movie's plot positively clunked along, with large gaps in it big enough to drive a truck through, and no real resolution to provide any sort of satisfaction to its audience. It's like some kind of rebellion against logic.
The movie stars Ewen MacGregor as an extremely reclusive operative for the British Secret Service, known in the film only as "Eye", who is assigned to follow and gather evidence against an executive who has possibly embezzeled millions from his company. When we first see him observing his target, we are startled to see that he has brought his young daughter along for the ride. But soon, when Eye is approached by a police officer, we are given a point of view from the officer's perspective, and are even more startled to discover that Eye's daughter is not actually present, except in his own mind.
But I digress. Eye follows the executive to his home, where he has taken an attractive woman with him (Ashley Judd) where they engage in what looks like a kinky sex game, until (read no more if you want to be surprised) to Eye's astonishment, she kills the executive in a particularly violent way, and goes down to the lake to wash the blood off herself in the rain in a scene that sets the tone for Eye's observation of her later on.
From then on, Eye follows this woman, who remains nameless throughout much of the movie, acting in some ways as a father figure, and in others as a guardian angel of sorts. He bails her out of trouble again and again, never seen or heard. She seems to have a sense, somehow, of his presence, but how does she feel about it? The movie doesn't explore this very much, and only very late and with a paltry line or two of dialogue does it even acknowledge it.
We get many scenes in which Eye watches this woman closely, and are never given a distinct reason as to why. There is the sense, perhaps, that he is trying to replace his missing daughter in some way, to fill the void she left behind. We see him protect her from the law as she kills again and again. Is he attracted to the danger she poses? We don't know, and frankly, neither does the movie. What about the fact that Eye keeps seeing his daughter in his mind everywhere he goes? Is he mad, or does he just miss her terribly? No answers there, either.
Movies don't have to provide all the answers, all of the time, but they should throw us a bone once in a while. The character's motives remain a mystery to us, and as they act time and again in ways that are contrary to what we know about them, it is a distraction, because we are left scratching our heads and trying to figure out what the hell is going on. I enjoyed the performances themselves from MacGregor and Judd (who is one of the best actresses on the screen today), and I liked Eye's contact at headquarters, played with a sardonic charm by K.D. Lang, who is incredulous as we are as to why Eye doggedly pursues his target for so long. But the movie left me feeling hollow. It has the dubious honor of accomplishing a strange and wondrous thing: it made me feel like I knew less about its characters coming out of the movie than I did going in. It's like eating Chinese food and feeling more hungry afterward than you did before.
The movie stars Ewen MacGregor as an extremely reclusive operative for the British Secret Service, known in the film only as "Eye", who is assigned to follow and gather evidence against an executive who has possibly embezzeled millions from his company. When we first see him observing his target, we are startled to see that he has brought his young daughter along for the ride. But soon, when Eye is approached by a police officer, we are given a point of view from the officer's perspective, and are even more startled to discover that Eye's daughter is not actually present, except in his own mind.
But I digress. Eye follows the executive to his home, where he has taken an attractive woman with him (Ashley Judd) where they engage in what looks like a kinky sex game, until (read no more if you want to be surprised) to Eye's astonishment, she kills the executive in a particularly violent way, and goes down to the lake to wash the blood off herself in the rain in a scene that sets the tone for Eye's observation of her later on.
From then on, Eye follows this woman, who remains nameless throughout much of the movie, acting in some ways as a father figure, and in others as a guardian angel of sorts. He bails her out of trouble again and again, never seen or heard. She seems to have a sense, somehow, of his presence, but how does she feel about it? The movie doesn't explore this very much, and only very late and with a paltry line or two of dialogue does it even acknowledge it.
We get many scenes in which Eye watches this woman closely, and are never given a distinct reason as to why. There is the sense, perhaps, that he is trying to replace his missing daughter in some way, to fill the void she left behind. We see him protect her from the law as she kills again and again. Is he attracted to the danger she poses? We don't know, and frankly, neither does the movie. What about the fact that Eye keeps seeing his daughter in his mind everywhere he goes? Is he mad, or does he just miss her terribly? No answers there, either.
Movies don't have to provide all the answers, all of the time, but they should throw us a bone once in a while. The character's motives remain a mystery to us, and as they act time and again in ways that are contrary to what we know about them, it is a distraction, because we are left scratching our heads and trying to figure out what the hell is going on. I enjoyed the performances themselves from MacGregor and Judd (who is one of the best actresses on the screen today), and I liked Eye's contact at headquarters, played with a sardonic charm by K.D. Lang, who is incredulous as we are as to why Eye doggedly pursues his target for so long. But the movie left me feeling hollow. It has the dubious honor of accomplishing a strange and wondrous thing: it made me feel like I knew less about its characters coming out of the movie than I did going in. It's like eating Chinese food and feeling more hungry afterward than you did before.