Perfect Strangers (2003)

Simply A Masterpiece

Pretty Good

Just perfect...

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

MAJOR SPOILERS This low budget flick starts off as a straightforward single female in peril thriller before changing tack midway through and heading down the single female goes a bit bonkers path. There's no warning, or apparent reason, for her sudden mental slide, but that's just one of many issues the film's writer and director fail to address. Why any bloke would want to marry a mad chick who whacked him over the head with a shovel and tied him up in a tool shed which she then takes pot shots at while talking to said bloke's dead/imaginary mate who she has recently murdered and thrown in a freezer is way beyond me. I know he lives alone on an island, but even so he can't be that desperate...Although the woman's descent into madness is unaccountably swift, the film plods along, neither knowing or seeming to care where it is going. The woman is never a sympathetic character, and neither her nor Sam Neill (who is considerably less bonkers, but still a little flaky all the same) are given any real back-story, so the viewer is given no reason to care what happens to them.This one's about as satisfying as a knife in the gut after a one-night stand...

I disagree with the previous comment. The movie possesses enough drama and suspense to keep the viewers interested until the very end. This is the story of two people who could have been happy together under different circumstances. It's also the story of what happens when people make the wrong choice. The movie asks the question what makes a certain choice the wrong one and points out that every choice could be both right and wrong. The music is well chosen, and the combination between Puccini's opera "Madam Butterfly" and a number of contemporary ballads enhances the atmosphere. The ending is unexpected and leaves the viewer surprised and delighted at the same time.

A previous previewer said that this was in his/her opinion "like a small student movie", like that would be something bad(?). Anyway, there is nothing amateurish or "student" in this movie. Maybe the guy was talking about the simplicity and small-scaleness of the film. Yes, it is that. But simplicity is/can be very brave and rare today. Many times filmmakers try to hide their lack of ideas under a chaos of different ideas and technical complexity.This was not the greatest masterpiece of all time, but it was well worth watching. The script was very clever, and the directing and the "flow" of the movie was very well made. Sam Neill and the lead actress were very good castings for these roles. I think it's refreshing to see movies that don't try to be anything else than what they are. I rate this movie not compared to any other movies I've seen, but as an independent being and work.

I have to agree with some other reviewers, there are continuity errors which make the film even more unbelievable than it is, great NZ scenery and cinematography, and also it does resemble "Japanese Story" in many ways (not sure which came first, I think Perfect Strangers may have).Having said that, I liked it a lot, Rachel Blake is great, Sam Neill is always engaging, but it is a bit too far fetched or too muddled a storyline, which (along with the continuity errors) makes it difficult to 'suspend disbelief'.One of the aspects I most liked was the 'mainland' sequences with the girlfriends, it was a shame they were so brief, there was a lot to like in those scenes. Well worth seeing, and it does stay with you, possibly because it's a puzzle of a film, whether that is intentional or not is the question.