User reviews

"Alexandra's Project" played on TV in my country the other day I watched it since I had heard and read several praising things about it. Several of the reviews I encountered used the terms "sick" and "disturbing", and those type of films always grab my attention as a fan of horror and obscure cult cinema. Now, I wouldn't really describe the events of "Alexandra's Project" as sick or disturbing. It's merely a bleak and very unpleasant viewing experience. I'm not too familiar with the work of the Dutch born writer/director Rolf De Heer (apparently he emigrated to Australia at young age), but he doesn't exactly come across as the most cheerful and sociable person based on this film. In fact, the film tremendously reminded me of the earlier work of Michael Haneke; more particularly "Benny's Video" and "Funny Games". The stories of all these films are extremely basic and substantially void, but the slow and brooding atmosphere literally makes you feel uncomfortable. Most of the running time, there's practically nothing going on, but you just know drama and emotional agony will ensue at a certain point. Steve is having a fabulous birthday so far. He made another promotion at work and he can't wait to return home, because he suspect that his wife and loving children prepared a surprise party for him. His wife Alexandra occasionally suffers from depressions and insomnia, but generally speaking his marriage is successful and stable. Or so he thinks… The only surprises that await him are an empty dark house and a videotape message from his wife Alexandra. What begins as an exciting private striptease quickly escalates into a discomforting monologue full of hatred, condemnation, humiliation and domestic tragedy. I can't really say I found "Alexandra's Project" to be a good film. The narrative is compelling and the film definitely benefices from the marvelous performances of Gary Sweet and Helen Buday, but the material is too implausible and far-fetched. To label "Alexandra's Project" as a feminist statement or even a thought-provoking humane drama would be far too much honor.

An ambitious film, which continues in the tradition of De Heer's fearless tackling of issues which began with the confronting "Bad Boy Bubby". Despite "Alexandra's Project's" interesting premise, the film fails to sustain emotional impact on the viewer, thanks to the scant nature of the plot. In what boils down to be one woman's tirade against her partner's sexual aggression, this film is so heavily weighted towards her own perspective, the viewer is never emotionally complicit, because the film fails to deliver a full and realistic portrait of the marriage. We briefly witness the family's interaction, but after that, we are left to consume Alexandra's bitterness - and believe it.

Gary Sweet delivers a raw and emotional performance, and Helen Buday as Alexandra is polished and convincing. Her character, however, is two dimensional, and, by the end, the viewer is left in a state of not caring about her actions. Add to this Alexandra's unbelievable and unjustified final torment, and you are left with a film which had a fantastic concept at its core, but sustains only a mildly successful delivery.

For a good De Heer film, get "The Tracker", which is more subtle, and a more accomplished piece overall.

This is a very interesting Australian drama, one that hits hard (along with the short film about the fighting brothers contained on the American DVD version) because of the way the audience reacts to the characters on screen. With whom will they sympathize? Judging by the messageboards, some blame Alexandra's poor husband, Steve. It is on his birthday when she chooses to dispense with carefully planned and merciless revenge that even a promotion at the office couldn't help him ignore. At night, after work, he comes home to an empty, dark house and finds little more than a videocassette addressed to him from what looks to be his kids. This is the bulk of the film, him watching Alexandra's progressively more disgusting testimony of how miserable her life has been essentially since she married Steve. The movie becomes so emotionally charged as it moves along and Alexandra starts to explain her well-crafted web of deceit in her attempt to crush Steve's spirits as much as possible.

I would agree with one viewer that the there are parts of the film which are not so well developed and particularly, the introduction of the family and especially, Alexandra and Steve, at the start of the film. But nonetheless, the shock of the film can rock audiences pretty hard. And, at least as evident from some of the comments on the boards for this movie, leave people feeling bitterly angry about either gender. The power that this film has to separate its audiences to that extent is amazing because the film seems to, on the one hand, waver between its sympathies of its lead characters, essentially leaving the audiences to their own vices in deciding which character is to blame and which is really deserving of sympathies. In the end, is it better to view Alexandra in such a vicious light because of the she admits to doing when alone in the house or when she explains what she has in store for the man who consistently ignored her? Or are we supposed to be more sympathetic to Steve who, by some rationales of audience members, was acting by hormonal response and only needed a good talking to in order to get Alexandra's point about him using her strictly for sex. What results on the videotape as it moves along as Steve is watching in almost paralyzed helplessness by a particular point is certain, Alexandra is not the character we made our assumptions about at the beginning of the film.

What a cruel demented movie this is, from the same distributors as "Wolves in the Snow", one of my favorite thrillers this year without a doubt. This Australian movie is much different, as it is about a man, Steve, celebrating his birthday. His morning starts with happy birthday stuff from his lovely family and his pretty wife Alexandra. But before leaving for work, his Wife tells him her main birthday present for him will be when he returns from work. He goes to work thinking everything is rosy, has a great day, they have a surprise party for him, and then he gets called in and receives a promotion. WOW, Steve is definitely having a great birthday, and he still has his lovely Wife's surprise gift to look forward to. When he arrives home, everything is dark, all the light bulbs have been removed, nobody is in sight, not his children, not his Wife, nobody. Furniture has been turned upside down, and Steve is still thinking Alexandra is playing a cute little joke on him and searches around his home, but finds nothing UNTIL!!!! In one room, he finds a package from his wife with a videotape inside, with a label that says "play me". His easy chair is all ready for him, with a VCR and television waiting. When he starts playing the tape, his Wife gives him a happy birthday message, and then goes into a slow strip tease for him, and Steve is smiles from ear to ear. BUT, things go rapidly downhill from there, and before long, Steve is starting to wish this whole thing is a bad nightmare. Steve gets subjected to remorse, deception and revenge, and then even a bigger shock, as the tape stops, but the video feed continues revealing that the next portion is indeed live, and he is locked in his house. This is a one of a kind psycho-sexual thriller, and I have never seen a movie like this before, and it had me mesmerized to say the least. It goes all the way from being highly erotic, to down right as mean spirited as hell. The studio that is putting these movies out, is the first to release award winning movies at theaters and on DVD at the same time. And based on the only two I have seen so far, the movies are remarkable. The subscription service is located at www.filmmovement.com , and definitely deserves attention.

This is a surprisingly good movie about an unpleasant - even nasty - subject. Given that the movie is essentially character driven and takes place mostly within the confines of one room, in lesser hands it could have had the potential to be rather slow. Not so! Because of the rising tension and the inability to read exactly where the story is headed, the movie maintains interest throughout, with very few flat spots. Not the movie for a light family day out. Rather, this is one for fans of the black psychological thriller. And the nudity? It is there for the plot and not for the erotica.

Wow! This one takes a page out of Takashi Miike's "Audition" and throws a little Lorena Bobbitt into the mix, Australian style. The film is undeniably well-made. The acting is superb by both leads, and the direction is taut and methodical with a distinct visual style. The contemporary, bitter female "man-hater" is redefined here. We get a very close look at an extremely disturbed woman, and extremely disturbed women can cause a lot of problems, even in reality! I admire the film for its inventiveness and risk-taking attitude. I always appreciate that in a film, whether I end up enjoying it or not. Guys, it might not be a good idea to watch this one with the ladies, but if you're a true cineaste like myself, I'd give it a try.

Rolf de Heer both wrote and directed this strangely fascinating and equally disturbing 2003 film for a cast of two. It takes chances (both male and female full frontal nudity among them), relates a tale that will likely make the viewer cringe and have some bad dreams, depends solely (well, practically solely) on two actors to pull this off, and in the end brings to the table a story of a terminally dysfunctional marriage.

Steve (Gary Sweet) and Alexandra (Helen Buday) live a middle class existence with their two children in Australia. After a strangely cold beginning - today is Steve's birthday and his two children and Alexandra have plans for an evening's celebration. Steve seems to start the day in an amorous mood but Alexandra is surprisingly unresponsive: Steve's attention is disturbed by the fat, ugly security systems installer neighbor (Bogdan Koca) who is constantly watering his garden. Steve is off, and at work his colleagues present him with a surprise birthday party AND an advancement in his company. When Steve returns home, his house is deserted and darkened with almost all the light bulbs missing, all easy access outside cut off and a videotape waiting for him, a videotape labeled 'play me'. Plugging the tape in Steve is instructed to get a beer and sit and watch what is about to unfold. On the tape Alexandra lays out her complaints about their marriage - Alexandra's feeling of abandonment, lack of sexual fulfillment, lack of intimacy, no control over the direction of her life. One of her biggest complaints is that Steve 'married her body' and made love at her, not with her. In an attempt to regain control of her body and her life Alexandra does some sexually perverse things on the tape to humiliate both Steve and the 'body' he married. She explains her grievances with him, her reasons for disappearing with the children and her revenge for how he treated her in a way he would never forget. The proceedings on the tape become real-time and the result of how Steve and Alexandra cope forms the surprise ending to this little sour film.

Both Sweet and Buday give convincing performances and the progress of the tape watching keeps the viewer's attention. Much of the back story for the film is left to the viewer's imagination but as far as the experience the script offers, it is a tough and strongly acted experience.

Grady Harp

"Alexandra's Project" begins masterfully, setting a dark and heavy mood long before the plot reveals itself. When the plot does reveal itself, it is done craftily, piece by piece, as if you were a bird being led into a trap one crumb at a time. This is exactly how the main character is trapped also.

For the first hour I loved this film and couldn't believe I had never heard of such an intelligent thriller before. This abruptly turned when the complex story quickly unravelled to a cheap rip off of every bad Hollywood cat-and-mouse flick ever made.

How did this happen? Because the lead character who, for the first half of the movie, was shown to be smart, resourceful and level-headed, turns into a whiskey swilling moron, gets drunk and spends the the last half of the movie soaking in self-pity while not taking the obvious actions to fix the situation.

That's what I mean in my title. You will be so aggravated at how dense the main character becomes that you will likely hurl your popcorn at the screen in disgust. Like in those cheap slasher flicks when the murderer is hiding in the house, and somehow the idiot victim decides it's a good idea to go into that dark room anyway. Cheap thrills are fun in cheap movies, but I was led to expect a bit more from this award-winning film.

The message of the film itself, offensive as it may be to some, wasn't what bothered me. The movie ridicules feminism by portraying the villain as a rabid, man-hating, feminist psycho. But my gripe isn't about that. My gripe is the fact that the villain's plan turned out to be totally half-baked, and only a total dolt would play into it. A simple call to the cops, and all the bad guys could've been traced, rounded up and punished. But no, instead let's get plastered on whiskey and feel sorry for ourselves until the end of time. As others have commented, the characters and their actions defy sensibility.

I actually recommend that you watch this film so you'll see how a great idea can come apart with shoddy writing. This movie will probably leave you feeling sickened, not by the plot or the director's message but simply by the director's ability to ruin an otherwise good idea. Four stars out of 10, only because it did keep me interested for an hour.

Whats wrong with this film isn't that de Heer has not lived up to the promise (or is that premise) that BAD BOY BUBBY offered. Its not Gary Sweet's lack of persuasive acting talents, its not even a directoral fault especially...its just that it doesn't damn well matter or even vaguely qualify as an "entertaining" near 2 hours!

Like, what's the point here? who cares about Alexandra's sexual dissatisfaction?...I can go to any suburb in Sydney and have this re-enacted. My question IS..with the wealth of talent this man HAS, why is he f------ around with a non-event of a storyline such as this?

It intrigues me....something the film had no hope of achieving!

I got this film from Netflix because of its synopsis, which was totally false. This is not the first time Netflix has done this, either. However, I thought the movie was a mystery because of what they said, and I am such a mystery devotee. Evidently the Netflix people either don't always view the movies or don't read other reviews very carefully. What they said in their comments was: "A British suburban husband is viewing a video that his wife has left for him as a birthday celebration when the camera pulls away and he sees a gun pointed at her head. I saw her pointing a gun at her own head, not quite the same. Did I miss something? Jody

Extremly suprising. With the age of digital shooting more movies are been made with a hight quality rating! Alexandra's Project is based on a solid written plot. On top on that good acting and by the hand of a very talented producer Rolf de Heer. His work, Dance Me to My Song (1998), Old Man Who Read Love Stories, The (2001), Tracker, The (2002), and recently Alexandra's Project (2003) all earned a plus 6 by the IMDB's visitors. And now I understand why.

Awfull low budget, Brilliant movie!

Alexandra's Project. Directed by Rolf De Heer. ***1/2

Brilliant film directed by the talented Aussie/Dutch director Rolf De Heer. In so many aspects the film is outstanding. As other people have mentioned, in its technical aspects such a photography, sound design, editing, is truly a wonder.

The acting is great. Gary Sweet is so natural; it seems the role was written for him. In the other hand, Helen Budday is an actress who shows a wide performance range. Sometimes, we feel sympathy towards her, other times we hate her.

Subject matter is a delicate issue here. The film is the ultimate shock fable for female liberation that started in the 1960's. It goes all the way in humiliating the husband, in horrible ways that we may not know, but we might guess through it. This is a great example of a film where substance overcomes form. Most of the people who hate this film, feel so uncomfortable and disturbed by it. But it is the subject that they feel repulsion to. You just can't handle such a complex and grim situation on the screen.

Truly original and sinister enough. I recommend it all the way.

9/10

I don't know what they have in the water down under, but chances are if you're watching an indie film that shocks you, arrests you, and amazes you with its innovation, at least over the past five years or so, it's come from Australia. From "Wolf Creek" to "Envy" to "The Square," one thing these films don't do is bore you with what you've already seen before. Props to the Australian Film Commission for backing such ballsy work.

"Alexandra's Project" begins with a nicely ominous tracking shot of a suburban neighborhood, eerily offset by Graham Tardif's dark ambient film score. You know something's not quite right with either bored suburban mom Alexandra (a fearless performance by Helen Buday) or her self-absorbed businessman/husband Steve (Gary Sweet) as he sets off for work on his birthday.

He plans to come home, share the fabulous news of his promotion with his wife and kids and instead...finds a vacant house with no power...except to the TV and VCR on which his wife has videotaped his birthday "present." To say more would be unfair, as this movie should be experienced with no expectations from the plot whatsoever...and trust me, you'll not expect what happens. It's sick, twisted, and yet oddly poetic in its justice.

The best way to summarize it would be that it's an extension of the Peter Gallagher Watching the Tape scene from Soderbergh's 1989 indie classic "sex, lies, and videotape." It shares a lot of sensibility with that film and much of its inherent power.

If you enjoy (way) offbeat thrillers and indie cinema in general, this one's a keeper.