Downloading Nancy (2008)

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

once you meet Nancy it hard to put her out of your mind, the movie is based on true story but if you look up the real story we don't get a back story or real reason for why she did it or what his side really was other than the fact that he claims it was an accident. the cast for this movie is great Maria Bello replaced Holly Hunter in this role. Both have the skills to pull this movie off and take it to that place with grace. its a disturbing matter to put on film but its story still needs to be told. If you have a personal past with sexual trauma or self injury it gives you pause and allows to relate to her on level that leaves you breathless at times, the thoughts she expresses about abuse and not being able to separate pain and pleasure and that there is level of pain your left that you learn that downloading Nancy was really about setting her free from her level of pain.

None of the reviews mentioned this movie being based on true events; a noteworthy fact given the disturbing storyline... The film is definitely not for everyone. It's about deeply troubled people & is VERY dark & very cold, made even more so by the meticulous art direction, camera work & editing.The cast is terrific, with a heartbreaking performance by Maria Bello who tackles her character with perfect emotional tone and tempo. It's a tough role precisely because it's so disturbing, and if overacted or otherwise played wrong, the character could become unlikeable, maudlin or self-indulgent. Bello manages to be none of these things.I didn't find the sex scenes gratuitous, or as one critic called it, "S&M soft-porn". In fact I felt the scenes were appropriately restrained. And there were many tender moments & much pathos throughout the film, including in some of the s&m scenes.As for the question of why Nancy simply didn't leave the marriage, she herself explains this when confronted by Louis with the same question. This is not the story of a woman with normal problems, marital or otherwise. This is the story of a woman who as a child was sexually abused by her uncle for a long time. And her mother exacerbated that emotional damage by blaming Nancy for the abuse. Typical of many sexual abuse victims, Nancy translated the abuse into "being loved", which compelled her to long for it in subsequent relationships. The therapy she finally seeks is too-little/too-late for someone with her type & degree of disturbance.I was okay with the ending & am glad they didn't decide to lighten things up & make it more commercially viable by going for a "happy ending" & having Nancy live happily ever after w/ Louis. That would be too Hollywood. In real life, some people simply can't overcome the pain of such prolonged and heinous abuse & end up choosing death over life as the ultimate release from unbearable pain...~NN

If i compare these two movies I don't do it for their plot or their visuals. Far from that.... "Downloading Nancy" is a visually ugly movie with washed out colors, ugly sets and no gimmicks whatsoever... close to no music but an ambient score fading in and out, sometimes swelling louder. There is no drugs, no TV-Shows, no mothers, no ambitions.... none of that but still I didn't miss anything. What links these movies together is the impact. I have rarely seen a movie with so much empathy and insight beside Arronowskys Masterpiece. This movie is not so much about Nancy, a disillusioned wife who went through some hardship and deals with her ignorant and cold husband by feeling through self-inflicted pain. Its not about the fact that she is trying to find someone to kill her over the internet and its not even a study on the phenomena of "cutters". I wasn't visually appalled by anything in this movie... yet it was hurting. It doesn't hurt to see Nancy cut herself or being choked. It hurts seeing her curdled up crying on the floor when she finds herself not being killed. It hurts to see her tries to communicate on an irrational level and those around her unable to cope with it. It hurts to see her abandoned and alone on the dance floor and it hurts just as much as seeing her husband, his friends, the internet-chat friend or Nancys psychiatrist showing just the same signs of being unable to speak and cope with those around them and the hidden hurt inside them.Even more than "Requiem for a dream" I find myself and most of those close to me right in the characters drama. This happens every day, every minute, yet most don't take drastic measures like Nandy. And I can't help but feel sad for everyone in this movie trapped in this spiral of hidden hurt, unableness to communicate and making the same mistakes you suffered from others. This is a movie about empathy and I rarely feel so close to movie characters. Its like staring into a mirror and looking at what you don't want to see and I think that is why so many people hate the movie or walk out of the cinema. Its not the killing and cutting and beating and most of all its not gratuitously focusing on human suffering. When you realize how we really all are one and get the chance to see our parallels rather than our differences... I guess thats good and I guess thats where Nancy herself tragically fails.

I can't stop thinking about this movie. My friend is going to see it tonight in NY, and I wish I were there to see it again. Not that it's fun. Well, maybe like a wooden roller-coaster.Questions bouncing around in my brain: 1. Can a person ever be healed if his/her sexual needs are perverted by abusive treatment during formative years? 2. If we look at this film as metaphor, what does it say about the nature of love? 3. Is the title a pun referring also to Sewall's character? He is dressed in a pink shirt and shows no sexual interest in his wife. Might "downloading" be the process by which we are receiving *his* story? 4. What can I do if I know someone like Nancy? What can I do if I *am* Nancy? (just thoughts...) Please don't flame me for being an English Lit. major. ;)