Review of Filth (2013) by Alex A — 05 Oct 2013

Bruce Robertson (James McAvoy), a scheming, conniving, corrupt police officer is put in charge of an investigation into the murder of a Japanese tourist; which is great news for him since this puts him in with the chance of being promoted to Detective Inspector. Realising that this opportunity is threatened by five of his fellow colleagues, he sets out to turn his colleagues against one another, therefore improving his chances. However, as his web of deceit begins to unravel, along with his deteriorating family life, his past catching up on him and his obsession with drugs, alcohol, adultery and other sex escapades, he begins on a downward spiral which sees him hit rock bottom to the point of no return.

Appearing in another gritty, dark Brit-flick, James McAvoy proves beyond any shadow of a doubt why he is one of the UK's best actors to date. The film focuses solely on Robertson's path to destruction and you experience a wide range of emotions, not only from the character but from yourself towards the character as well. His portrayal of a man who is both possessed and demented goes down some severely dark paths that will make you hate the guy because of the lengths he goes to succeed in his work life, and then only a few moments later, especially the moments where we learn more about the character and see him on his path to destruction, you sympathise with the character.

The film is very creative in showing Robertson's downfall, going deep in his head and seeing him battle with the demons that he believes he is surrounded by, as well as the endless taunting's of his therapist played by Jim Broadbent. Not only does this add depth to the character because you first hand witness what he is seeing, but it's clearly shown that he really does want to fight against these demons and win, but he lacks the willpower to do that which in turn develops the character even more and makes you go through the varying emotions as mentioned before. A plot point is that he is constantly haunted but this spirit of a child, which potentially hints at a son he had who died, until its revealed that the boy was his brother whom he apparently was responsible for his death when they were kids. Again, adding to the character, revealing him as a tortured man, desperately trying to forget what happened in his childhood.

The film constantly eludes to his personal life and this elusive wife and child that is never shown until the last ten minutes when he is eventually hit the lowest of lows, until you realise that his is no longer married and supposedly isn't allowed to see his child which seems to be the tipping point when he sees them in the local supermarket. His wife is only seen in varying snippets of the movie but they are never seen together until the twist near the conclusion of the film which isn't seen coming whatsoever and adds to the characters downfall even further, which culminates in his suicide at the end of the film.

But really, the overall arc of the character is that he is an incredibly lonely figure who fills his loneliness through his vices as well as his relentless determination to disrupt other people's lives in order to satisfy his desires. The lack of a stable relationship is ever present in the movie and at times it seems that his could have exactly that with a woman who husband he tried to save, but was unsuccessful in doing so. The film hints at this woman being his salvation as he clearly doesn't treat this woman like he does to other women he encounters - which is either as sex puppets or with distaste and aggression - however, since he has become so unhinged, he is unable to follow through his feelings as he seen throughout the film as someone who has indiscriminate sex with women and can never go further into actually having feelings for the women he is having sex with. As well as the fact that he lacks the ability to build friendships. He associates with a guy called Bladesey (Eddie Marsan), a pushover and genuinely nice guy who Robertson constantly uses and abuses and fails to appreciate him. He doesn't realise how good Bladesey has been to him until it's too late and acknowledges what a prick he has been towards Bladesey and opens up to him and apologises to him on tape before his suicide.

With this movie to add to McAvoy's resume of 2013, along with Welcome to the Punch and Trance, James McAvoy has had a very good year for movies and Filth is another example of just how good he is. Not only is he capable of playing the hero and villain, but he is able to play both at the same time and make the character compelling as hell. Filth is definitely one of the stronger movies of the year and is worth the time of day.