Open
Window marks the writing and directing debut of long-time film editor Mia Goldman.
Her film stars Robin Tunney and Joel Edgerton as a Los Angeles couple, very much
in love - whose relationship is put to the strongest of tests after an act of
violence rocks their lives.
The
couple live in Venice Beach in one of those classic Craftsman style homes, Peter
(Edgerton) is an assistant professor at a local University, and Izzy (Tunney)
is a photographer with dreams of selling her work professionally. Soon after the
film begins, Peter heads out to visit his estranged father who lives on the outskirts
of Southern California’s endless city. It turns out his father has summoned
him because he is planning on moving back to his hometown in the midwest and wants
Peter to have something. It turns out to be the wedding ring his mother had worn,
and though we can sense the ring carries with it a lot of complicated baggage,
Peter accepts it with thanks. When he returns home he offers it as an engagement
ring to Izzy who simply responds by saying yes.
To
show his appreciation for her quick and ready affirmation, he surprises her by
cleaning up their old workshop out back and sets it up with a small dark room
and everything else she needs to stop procrastinating and start working toward
her career dreams. As he is leaving he opens the window to let in some fresh air
and we linger there as it creeks ominously as a gust of wind blows in.
Later
that evening Izzy is in the workshop arranging some of her old work when a bird
lands on the window sill, she steps over to take a look at it, and standing beyond
it is a blonde bearded man in running clothes who leaps through the open window
and violently rapes Izzy. Inside the house Peter is engaged in some sort of noisy
housework and is thus unable to hear her screams. The rape itself is shot with
intense visceral realism, and we return to the act throughout the film in flashback
as further details of the attack come into play.
Izzy
is taken to the hospital and given a check-up, but refuses to have the procedure
done that would allow them to retrieve the assailant’s DNA and she opts not
to go to the police. Peter finds this perplexing, as does her mother and Izzy
also requests that her father not be told about the rape. This and a few other
odd facts begin to arouse suspicion about there being more to the crime than meets
the eye. Particularly a scene where Peter comes out to look around the workshop
and finds a bit of torn material in the window which he takes with him and never
mentions it to anyone.
Izzy
soon shuts down, keeping to herself and sleeping away the days - moping around
in her pajamas like a refugee in her own home. She turns a cold shoulder to Peter
any time he tries to offer consolation or affection, she stops eating and becomes
more and more withdrawn and uncommunicative. Peter becomes increasingly frustrated
to the point where he actually seeks the advice of his father, whom he hasn’t
spoken more than a Merry Christmas to for years due to issues involving his treatment
of his mother during their divorce.
The
ripple effect begins to take a toll on Peter and after being turned down for a
position at the University he was counting on, he lashes out at her and she decides
to move out. During all this Izzy’s mother (an annoyingly over-the-top Cybil
Shepherd) has been trying in her no-nonsense fashion to set things right, but
it is her father (Elliot Gould) who manages to draw Izzy out. Gould is quietly
effective in his role, as is Izzy’s Psychiatrist (Shirley Knight).
Ultimately
Open Window is a straight forward look at the effect of violence and as such it
works well enough. The material is slightly out of Tunney’s reach as an actress
and wearing his constant dour expression Edgerton looks so much like Conan O’Brien
that it does become a bit disconcerting. Thinking about the film as I write this,
when I try to picture Edgerton’s face all I can conjure up is that expression
Conan gets on his face when he and Max do their little awkward silence bit. If
this strikes you as a ridiculous thing to mention in critique I understand - but
I can’t imagine any American reviewer not having at least a little bit of
a problem with it. The resemblance is so uncanny that it’s literally like
watching Conan acting upset at his wife’s gradual disappearance.
The
problem with Open Window is that it doesn’t offer any new insight into a
subject that has been explored ad nauseum. There is a scene where Tunney has an
imaginary confrontation with her assailant where she manages to subdue him, wrap
him in the drapes and push him out her high rise apartment window. Goldman wants
us to think this is actually happening until the drapes flutter away lightly in
the wind. Then after this event she is soon her old self again and before you
know it, she’s having a successful show of her photography with everybody
standing around sipping wine. The ending is satisfactory if not entirely satisfying
and the film leaves you with the feeling that you’ve stepped out to take
a 10 minute phone call and missed something important. The movie is just plain
lacking - there needed to be more to it to push it beyond the caliber of your
run of the mill WE Channel feature. Sorry Mia Goldman, it’s just Mia Pinion.
