It's the Pain and the Sex Disguised as Innocence

People are freaks man, getting all kinds of gully in the bedroom. Thankfully, most like to get freaky in private. Other people like to put on shows.

Monogamy explores those hidden desires. It follows a professional photographer named Theo (Chris Messina,) as he embarks on a strange new assignment.

See, he makes his living mostly from weddings. The movie is pretty realistic in depicting it as the soul-sucking job that it must be. I couldn’t do it, arranging demanding brides and drunk family members into generic poses, the same scenario week after week.

So Theo has a side hustle. People pay him to shoot candid photographs from a distance, without being spotted. They give him a time and place, and he sets up like a sniper, stalks them, shoots them and sends them the prints. This makes for more challenging, more honest photography.

The shots get even more interesting when he is contracted by a mysterious blonde with a penchant for exhibitionism. On his first shoot he documents her 9 am park bench climax. Eventually, Theo follows her down dark alleys where she meets strange men for sex. He obsesses over her pictures, cropping them close so that he can make out her jewelry and tattoos.

Soon Theo begins noticing the sharp contrast between the blonde and his own fiancé, played by Parks and Recreation’s Rashida Jones. Jones is sweet and understanding as Nat, but she lacks the uncontrollable passion that drives the mysterious blonde. Now Theo must confront his own desires, and decide on what it means to be a man in a relationship.

The premise of the movie is interesting and the writing very solid. I particularly liked how the story uses a small cut to Nat and her subsequent staph infection as a plot device in order to put distance between her and Theo. It reminds me of a similar plot turn that occurs in an excellent Gabriel Garcia Marquez short story, "The Trail of Your Blood in the Snow". The break-up scene towards the end of the movie is also rendered very realistic.

The film does have a number of glaring weaknesses, including Messina’s portrayal of Theo. The story relies heavily on Messina to demonstrate his character’s internal conflict. I found him less than convincing. I also would have liked more insight into Jones’ character. Instead she is depicted mostly as the suffering girlfriend.

The weakest aspect to the film is definitely the plot twist surrounding the blonde’s true circumstances. I know I saw it coming long before it was confirmed. It was also strangely ineffective as the motivation behind Theo’s final act epiphany. I would have left the whole idea on the cutting room floor.

I give Monogamy a C-. The premise is original and the themes explored are interesting. The acting is solid, if slightly off. There are moments where the writing is very clever, but unfortunately those moments are balanced out by a few subtle weaknesses in the story and characterization.

I would recommend the film mostly to young men and women in relationships. Sex dominates the minds of men. Some can control their desires, and some succumb to them, letting those desires warp them and leave them with nothing. Don’t let that be you.