Review of Bitter Moon (1992) by Ray S — 03 Jun 2017

We all know how romantic comedies work don't we? Boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, tensions brew to the point of nearly boiling over, then they kiss and make up. The end! A perfect ending for your standard rom-com protagonists.

But what happens next for the happy couple? 'Bitter Moon' provides the answers. Oscar and Mimi are Polanski's representatives of the generic rom-com couple. Once they've gone through the motions of falling in love, we get a look behind the curtain and see how deranged the couples from these types of movies really are.

After achieving their "happy ending", Oscar and Mimi find themselves wrapped up in a sadistic and masochistic relationship with no way out. The insanity keeps building as the two of them try one-upping each other with their attempts at making the other as miserable as possible.

'Bitter Moon' is a very very dark comedy, but still a comedy, and is not a crowd-pleaser. It's also one of Roman Polanski's best films.