Review of Filth (2013) by Jesse O — 15 Sep 2014

To say that this film lives up to its title might be the understatement of the year. It is twisted, amoral, and damn proud about it. But, in spite of all the unpleasantness this film brings about, this is also a surprisingly compelling character study about a man who's doing everything he can to keep his family together, no matter whatever that may be.

Turning his colleagues against each other in order to make his path to the promotion that much easier. In many ways, much like the last film I just reviewed, Reign Over Me, this is a story about a man's grief and what that grief forces him to become.

Someone completely different, in every way, than the person he used to be. Someone who's depraved, whose behavior knows no boundaries of poor taste, corruption, bigotry, manipulation, abuse, etc, etc.

Basically, Bruce is every negative that you can possibly conjure up in your mind. It's obvious, during certain scenes, that there's a hint of the man he used to be. A good man, as he explains to Amanda in one scene.

This is a man who's going through a terrible bout of grief, drug dependency, bipolar behavior, and depression. He's clearly going through some stuff that has left him unable to function the way he would've prior to the film's events.

It's very easy to guess that his wife had left him for X or Y reason, a reason that's never really explained, not that it was needed for the film to work. And he's also going through the guilt of believing that he caused his brother's death when he was much younger.

The combination of his wife leaving him, and refusing to let him see his daughter, added to the guilt he's had to deal with, has clearly pushed him over the edge, never to return again. His life, both professional and personal, starts to unravel as the film progresses.

The lies and the manipulation eventually catch up to him and he's powerless to stop it, no matter how much medication he takes. It's quite something to see really. Bruce's lack of trust in others, even himself, is illustrated by the hallucinations he has.

He pictures other characters as pigs (himself), sheep, wolves, witches, etc. These hallucinations get considerably worse as the film gets near its climax, as Bruce starts to lose grip with reality and who he is as a person.

For all the efforts he made into getting the promotion, it was really doubtful that getting said promotion was gonna get his wife and daughter to come back to him. Particularly after all the damage he's done to himself after they left.

It's kinda fucked, because if you leave him, and he's a good man, can you really hold it against him when his life completely unravels as a consequence of what you did? It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Of course, not that you ever get to find out if Bruce even did something to make his wife leave him. All we are told, from Bruce himself, or his psyche rather, is that she met another man and left him.

Since Bruce isn't exactly the most reliable narrator, you're not exactly sure whether you should believe him or not. I have a hard time believing she'd just leave him if he truly was a good man.

I guess we'll never know. Of course, this story wouldn't work if you didn't have this incredible performance from James McAvoy. Let me just say that I find the guy immensely talented, he was my favorite part of the last X-Men film, but he usually plays these good guy roles where's supposed to be charming, which he pulls off well, but he hasn't had a chance, at least as far as I've seen, to do this kind of absolutely detestable role before.

And, you know what, the guy hits a grand slam. It's clear that he was relishing this role, it's a very meaty role, it's all over the place. I'm sure it must've been challenging to get the right tone for the character, but James conquers that challenge.

I can't even begin to say how great he is in this film. He definitely won't get an Oscar nod, but he should get a BAFTA. I think he does JUST enough to give the character a little humanity, and even kindness sometimes towards Colin's wife and her son.

Of course, it doesn't last long before the hallucinations kick in and he's back to the same old Bruce. But he does enough to show you that there's still a good man deep down inside him. I don't wanna say it justifies his actions, but it makes it easier to see that something, or someone, made him this way.

Something in his life has made him this way, it's not like he was born this way. With that said, my review makes this film look bleak as fuck, and in a way it is given its ending, but I also found the film to be wickedly and darkly funny.

There's some stuff that's gonna offend some people. What can you expect with a name like Filth? But it's so shamelessly proud of it, that you can't help but laugh along when Bruce does something fucked up like trying to get a blowjob from an underage girl.

Again, they're not trying to justify his actions, they're trying to shine a spotlight on how wrong his behavior is and how few fucks he actually gives about his deplorable actions. So, at the very least, you'll get some laughs out of the film while watching this man's life go down the drain.

The supporting cast is quite good, Eddie Marsan is easily the best one of the bunch. But that's not to say the others lack in motivation and effort, just that Eddie steals the couple of scenes he's in.

Fuck it, I've upgraded the film to 4 stars, gave it 3.5 originally. Perhaps I'm being generous. If I feel I was, I'll come back and fix it. But, for now, this is a great, and incredibly dark, character study about an incredibly unlikable man.

James McAvoy gives one of, if not, his best performances yet. If anything else, just watch it for how great the guy truly is in this film.