User reviews

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

The masochist housewife Nancy (Maria Bello) is a physically and psychologically destroyed woman. She had been so violently abused by her uncle since she was seven years old that she can not have babies anymore. She is ignored by her selfish husband Albert (Rufus Sewell), who does not have sex with her or give any attention to her problems, dedicating his leisure time to play a virtual golf game in a special room in their fancy house. The psychoanalyst Carol (Amy Brenneman) unsuccessfully tries to help Nancy to resolve her emotional issues with therapy. When Nancy contacts the sick sadomasochist Louis (Jason Patrick) in internet, she schedules a meeting with him in Baltimore to release her from her painful life. They meet each other and have kinky sex, but along the days together, Louis falls in love for Nancy and tries to persuade her to stay alive.

"Downloading Nancy" is a disturbing, powerful and heartbreaking movie with a story apparently based on a true event. Yesterday when I saw this film, I felt very uncomfortable with the dramatic story of Nancy, a woman destroyed by sexual abuses in the childhood and adolescence, and rejection and lack of love in her marriage. The gorgeous Maria Bello performing a character without any glamor gives a performance that should deserve a nomination to the Oscar, if this ridiculous institution were slightly honest and serious. Rufus Sewell is amazing in the role of a selfish man totally indifferent to the emotional problems of his needy wife. Jason Patrick is also excellent and there is one specific scene absolutely gruesome when he has sex with Nancy and a piece of glass. The non-linear screenplay makes the difference in this film, disclosing the drama of the lead character through flashbacks and intelligent dialogs. This mature movie is only recommended for very specific audiences and the DVD should have a warning in this regard. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Distúrbios do Prazer" ("Disturbs of the Pleasure")

Something dark looms over this movie: Nancy's plan. For a long time, we don't know what it is, but it can't be good. Nancy (Maria Bello) is a pain junkie, the self-destructive kind: no pain, no gain. Maria Bello, she's good. This is her movie. The way she carries herself, the way she walks and the way she talks all radiate defeat. Maria Bello has a nice, articulate voice. But when Nancy speaks in that same voice, it doesn't matter what she says. The way she says it says it all. Nancy rarely smiles, and it's a pretty desperate smile, mostly reserved for her luckless therapist. Against hope, I found myself hoping for better days, but they never break. Nancy takes off to Baltimore. "Who has friends in Baltimore?", her helpless husband finds himself wondering. He's right. Nobody does. Nancy doesn't. She doesn't have friends. Not in Baltimore, not anywhere. She's not the type. - The script jumps back and forth in time, to unsettling effect. If you liked "Chasing Sleep" or "Breaking the Waves", this might be for you, but I'm not sure it's for anyone. There's not a ray of light in it, but I guess that's what life is like for the likes of Nancy.

Crimelibrary has an account of a suburban Baltimore, MD woman whose story is markedly similar to this film in the broad facts.

However, the movie departs from that story when exploring the protagonist's psychology - Maria Bello plays a very different character from that of Sharon Lopatka. The film tries to link contradicting pathologies which weren't present in the real story, and which would be fine if there was a point - there doesn't seem to be. Unlike Michael Haneke's, "La Pianiste," there seems to be a poor grasp or care about the underlying chaos of this character beyond the dramatic possibilities. Maria Bello's performance is admirable but the narrative fails to draw significant meaning from the substance of her struggle.

While there is an attempt to create a dark, grim sheen to the film, the casting of two very pretty Hollywood stars (Bello and Patric) was an epic blunder. It adds an unwelcome 'allure' to a tale which should remain, frankly, indigestible. Marketable, sexy actors transform this fascinating story into something weirdly, sadly exploitative. Jason Patric is such a poor choice - it couldn't be any more distracting if it were Brad Pitt! (It might have felt more grounded with actors like James Gandolfini and Kathy Bates... ).

Rufus Sewell is captivating here and brings a needed realism in his portrayal of the bewildered husband.

obviously has some talent attached, Maria Bello is always great. but this is just a dreary wast of time, portraying every character as someone to be loathed and exploited so someone could make a movie out of an 'interesting' story. well, i hope they got it out of their systems. unfortunately for the audience, there is no insight, no sensitivity, no context, and really no humanity. which would all be fine, except it has no humor, no horror, no context, and nothing constructive to say about the story it's trying to tell. bad things happen, you sit and watch it, you don't care, so what? 99% of the time, the words 'based on a true story' constitute an unintentional warning to the audience. it means the director and screenwriter are lazy and fascinated by some events they heard about somewhere, so they just throw them up on the screen and expect the 'true' nature of the story to make the audience feel something without the filmmakers having to do any of the work. i hope they had a great time making this movie. it stinks on ice.

It's hard to decide whether this is a failure or not. I finally came to the conclusion that it's not.

Nancy has been sexually abused as a child. She lives in a completely cold and dead marriage. She cuts herself. Then, she gets into this pact with a stranger on the net. What follows is a carousel of destruction. But is it really destruction? It's a fantastic acting performance here by Maria Bello, Rufus Sewell and Jason Patric. It's like a documentary with pale colors, no sign of hope, no sign of healing. It's a movie about existentialism, but it balances on a thin line close the ridiculous. But director Johan Renck brings it all home and you can only feel the pain. Or is that really what you're supposed to feel?

The question is, Is this film worth watching? Of course it is, if for nothing else but to see Maria Bello's Indy Award nominated performance. Don't let the fact that it went straight to video dissuade you.

It is not a pretty movie. Watching the effects of child sexual abuse never is. Watching someone engage in self-mutilation to mask the pain is, in a word, painful.

Bello (A History of Violence, The Cooler) was, of course, perfect for the role. Rufus Sewell played the husband, who was more of an enigma. It was never clear whether he was just a jerk who was obsessed with golf, or if 15 years of marriage to Nancy (Bello) just wore him down.

Nancy finds Louis (Jason Patric), someone on the Internet she wants to kill her. They end up having a relationship, if you want to call it that.

In the end, I am not sure whether he kills her or whether she kills herself. It really doesn't matter. It was a dark, twisted film with very little music and washed out cinematography. It set the mood, but it is easy to see why this film would get no buyers at Sundance.

People don't go to the movies to get more depressed, and this one will do just that.

Maria Bello doesn't seem to care what people think of her choices in movie roles. Again she chooses a very difficult and not popular movie to star in. Maybe she needs those movies, to get off the sugar coated (aka "Hollywood") ones she does here and then (Coyote Ugly and of course Mummy 3).

While I think fails to achieve what it sets out to do (I won't spoil that), Maria Bello is as great as in her other independent/small movies she stars in. It's her performance that elevates this movie. This combined with the strange subject matter almost did the trick for me. But in the end (and even if I try to overlook some flaws, like bad pacing and dramaturgy), the movie is still too long

Low rating is due to film shortcomings and not content of the movie or graphic scenes – I am perfectly fine with the subject matter.

Maria Bello's portrayal of Nancy is lacking on many levels. I feel no empathy towards her and further into the movie I begin to look forward to her death to end her whiny self-absorbed and childish behavior. Another walking skeleton actress who needs to eat something because the sex scenes were not sexy or engaging. How we are supposed to believe that not only one man, but two are in love with this train wreck is beyond me and derails the entire movie.

I understand that her childhood abuse contributed to her emotional problems, but leave the marriage like every other dysfunctional person; there were no kids to keep her there (another understandably depressing issue but of course she can't adopt, right?). Nope. She just stays and tortures her husband and flings potatoes at him and wonders why he won't screw her – that's hot…not. If she really wanted to be tortured and killed, then go live on the street and get raped and beaten, probably killed. Nope. Comfy house with husband worrying about her while she emails other men and cuts herself.

I've seen the criticism and discussion of the husband Albert as being unresponsive and contributory. I feel that this portrayal or opinion is unfair. He seems to be worn from 15 years of marriage to this roller-coaster twit; every emotion has already been extracted many times over so what is the use. Sewell has it down perfectly for me. If the husband was making her unhappy, then she had every opportunity to leave over 15 years. It just looks like she enjoyed being supported so she did not work and could concentrate on her neuroses.

Patric as the boyfriend/killer was okay. Maybe it was the script, but I just did not get enough conviction that his character derived pleasure and satisfaction.

I had a classmate that committed suicide in 6th grade. By this real life standard, Nancy is an epic failure at her deepest desire to end her pain this far along. The story then becomes one of fetish and narcissism instead of desperation. There is no discussion to be had regarding lack of understanding, compassion or experience in the aforementioned subjects; I have plenty and draw from real life my assessment that the characters and storyline are not cohesive and true to life. This story is inspired by a real life story – I did research it after I viewed the movie. It also solidified my opinion more.

The title DownloadingNancy does nothing for this film, I wish the writer could have come up with something more polished because the title doesn't do the film any justice. That is literally the only thing wrong with this disturbing but excellent film.

Maria Bello is on top of her game as Nancy, a woman who is tormented by life, a woman who has given up hope of ever finding happiness, Bello has never been better than she is here, it's such a shame that this film went unnoticed because I'm sure she would've been a frontrunner for all of the big awards. She totally embodies this character, in saying that, Maria Bello is a tremendously watchable actress and no matter what kind of role she's in she always shines.

This film has a fascinating subject matter, the thought of someone being so unhappy in life that they would go to the extreme of paying someone to torture and kill them is truly sad. This film is loosely based in fact so it's not Luke we can just say " it's only a movie", also this is not just a one off thing, another film tackles the same subject, Grimm Love, starring Keri Russell also has the same story line, that movie is much more horrific and graphic but it deals with the same issue of people being unhappy in life.

This movie isn't something to cheer you up, it's most certainly not going to do that, but if you like movies that will divide a room and start a conversation then this is one for you.

I wish this movie had found a bigger audience because it's so deserving of a wide audience, I really hope Maria Bello gets more roles like this in the future. She's just excellent.

Oh yes, I'm not afraid to go against current here..... Garbage xploition First Class. You thought exploitation was something of the genres in the 70's ( specially Italy) ???? NO. THE WORST exploitation is when it's sold to you without saying it IS SO ( unlike the 70's Italy). Very slick easy-shocking-the-bourgeoisie-method to make dollars and nothing else, this is NOT about the real case ( her family should SUE !!) , nor about a abuse case, nor about why a woman behaves like that ( if u want suicide....you should do it yourself. Or does she want to find a suitable s/m lover ? ? ....Look how lucky.....She actually has ! But no, so , what does this lazy, manic, super-narcissistic, ADHS, loveless, unsympathetic, entirely egoistic woman want ? I think her husband has had a LOT of patience with her ( 15 years ) , really a lot ! We don't know how these 15 years have been for him, nor for her, but I know that you cant stay madly in love with a prson specially if she behaves as loveless and nasty as she does. Why does she hates him ? Because he isn't 'wild'? So, why did she marry him in the first place ? Why does she not insist in therapy nd finally decide to ger better eeh ? Why doesn't she game with him ? Or take a hobby of her own ? Or work ? Or help children? ( am I supposed to cry because she can't have her own baby? Well, I won't . )Live or die , is not only the choice for her, but for ALL of us. We all have to heal and live and love. If we decide that we don't want to live, we take matters in our own hands and not give it to a sadist murder to increase our karma further more.... So, this is a terrible stupid film about a made up character ( I work with victims + cutters, so I can separate sleezy fiction from real cases, be offended by me, but this dangerous and easy piece of garbage has a name: Exploitation ....

Watch out. Or better: don't watch. ( PS: Bello's acting is EASY. People often think it's hard to play a insane over the top , specially if having (s/m) sex....but I know my acting. It's the easiest piece to play, no, she doesn't deserve a price ). ( My vote: 3. Only because they too must eat , LOL )

I have no problem with the storyline. I enjoy dark/bleak films with a sense of foreboding/depression if they're done well. This was not done well. This was horrendously executed at every turn. I notice the other bad reveiws are giving the cast credit for good acting. I saw no good acting here whatsoever, from anyone. It was impossible to get into the movie because I coudn't get absorbed in it. The husband.'s indifference to our main character is portrayed way over the top, and his face was just one you wanted to smash for no reason other than being so dumb looking. The whole awkwardness when she first meets her online savior to release her was equally painful to view. The scenarior went from one dud to another, and when the biggest most creative insult the writers can come up with to hurl at each other is F You you know the creative process went thud. Bad lighting and editing didn't contribute anything to help this movie along. No soundtrack of note. All the husband's friends were absolute D Bags. Nobody put any effort into this it seems, and it showed. Which is so sad because as I said, it's a very compelling topic. The biggest talent in this was the psychiatrist played by Amy B., but like all the others she put forth no compelling effort. But blame the script, not the cast. The only somewhat interesting scene is the hardware store, but the sheer absurdity of the restaurant scene negates that. Pretentious Slop.

When the printing press was invented it spread media quicker and farther than ever before. Fast forward to the information age where written documents as well as ways of communicating went digital from the invention of the computer and then a way to connect them to others: The Internet. Writing letters turned into e-mails and inked articles went way of text on a blog. This story uses the modern way of communicating and connecting to others but as an outlet for darker reasons rather than opportunity or forward outlooks. And what makes this tale so haunting is that is was inspired by real events with some cinematic liberties altered from a 1996 case about a woman named Sharon Lopatka who went by the name of Nancy over the computer.

"Downloading Nancy" is about a down-on-this-world woman, played by Maria Bello, who searches for someone on the Internet that would take her life as she's tried herself with scars to show for it. Not to mention going to therapy sessions to resolve her long list of deep-rooted issues without any substantial luck. She's married and unable to have kids due to being abused and suffering physical pain as a little girl. Her husband Albert, played by Rufus Sewell, doesn't understand her need for infliction during intercourse, and after 15 years of marriage is fed up with her immature and selfish ways of dealing with problems. He has golf and other hobbies to keep himself distracted, not to mention they sleep next to each other, yet are worlds apart. Nancy finds her guy, or so he says, and takes off with only a nondescript note left over to her husband. The newly met man from online seems the perfect match to give her the rough stimulation she feels she needs. Nancy has her highs and lows, from emotional to withdrawn, giving a torn decision to the man who's now infatuated with her.

Slow, serious, subtle, "Downloading Nancy" builds up by showing rather than telling how this woman got to the desperate, manic, end-all state she's at. There are loose, hand-held camera shots that put you there. Sometimes hiding behind something to give the point of view of witnessing and experiencing it first hand. The settings are dulled with drab colors and neutral furniture to give an oppressive tone without overdoing it and trying to be creepy. Maria Bello does an excellent job of playing a pessimistic woman with more than one troubling issue to contend with. Her impulsive ways make her unpredictable and unlikable, though there is a feeling of pity as she can't even help herself.

This doesn't have the typical amount of hope or resolve that you see in Hollywood pictures, but it's filled with real feelings of emotion that radiate from the screen. The film doesn't have any good guys or bad guys, and it isn't a horror tale as it won't happen to you due to both individuals being willing participants. It just unfolds this strange tale of how the Internet brought these two together, who would have otherwise never met as they're several states over. Though Nancy had stacking problems that were becoming too much to handle, and this was her way of finding an answer to solve it all by including this man to take charge of her life without question. The amount of blind trust she put into him might say more about herself than him. (If you missed 'em see my profile and click chronological for first review "Grimm Love" or the second "Cannibal.") (Also submitted on http://fromblacktoredfilmreviews.blogspot.com/)

I never write reviews for imdb, but feel compelled to say at least something about this fantastic movie.

Not many movies out there leave you having to defragment afterwards. I am not an emotional person, but this movie made me feel sadness like I have very rarely experienced. A lot of this can be attributed to fantastic acting by all three main characters, especially Maria Bello who absolutely sold her depression and hopelessness with extremely impressive results.

Movies like this are hard to watch, and even harder to come by, but it is an absolute must watch.