The Unfairly Quick and Painless Death of the Author

I didn’t get enough out of Obsession to want to do a deep dive on it1, but there was something interesting in the other reactions I saw to the movie: I’d thought that the movie was pretty unambiguous in what it had to say. But I read several reviews that I completely disagree with — even ones that I think are directly contradicted by what’s in the movie — and still, I thought, “Sure, that’s fair.” Because the movie’s all about a woman losing her autonomy, agency, and even personality, and a “nice guy” who not only caused that, but took advantage of it. Whether you think the movie is commenting on that and condemning it, or just perpetuating it, the takeaway at the end is the same: that’s hell of gross and horrific. If there’s going to be discourse around this movie, I’m glad that it’s “this is gross” vs “this is gross, and they were completely aware of how gross it is.” Instead of the alternative, which is “male fantasies about ‘romance’ are often actually about robbing women of their…