Carlos and Jason Sanchez are Canadian photographers. Together, they have written and directed "Allure", their feature debut. It explores two abusive relationships, one between an adult woman and a teenage girl and another between the same adult woman and a man older than her.
Laura Drake (Evan Rachel Wood) seems a bit off right from the get-go. In the very first scene, a man enters her home, blindfolds himself, while she sits in her bedroom. It's sexual and very impersonal, and it falls apart quickly. Soon afterwards, Laura is at work in an office, where she appears to be equally unhappy. Her boss, William (Denis O'Hare) is also her father and that relationship isn't particularly smooth.
Laura also takes a job cleaning house for Nancy (Maxim Roy). Nancy's sixteen-year old daughter Eva (Julia Sarah Stone) also lives there and she's miserable. Her mother makes her play classical music on the piano and criticizes her playing on a regular basis.
Laura looks at Eva with a mixture of pity, caring, and someone to prey upon, even if it might be a subconscious thing. She convinces Eva that if she needs a respite from her misery that she can come stay with her. Somewhat surprisingly, Eva goes to stay with Laura. You can easily envision that this is probably not going to work out for the best.
All three of the leads do a fine job, but this is a showcase for Ms. Wood's prodigious acting talent. This is not meant to belittle the other two. It's that just by Ms. Wood's facial expressions, you can understand everything about her character. Her performance is the allure.
| Movie title | Allure |
|---|---|
| Release year | 2017 |
| MPAA Rating | NR |
| Our rating | |
| Summary | Evan Rachel Wood's performance is reason enough to make the trip to your local cinema. |
