His Dick or the Rape? Tyler Perry's Temptation

Movie: Tyler Perry's Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor
 
I went to see Tyler Perry's Temptation in the cinema the day after it came out. All I knew about it was it stars Jurnee Smollett. I've long been an admirer of hers, and figured the Tyler Perry movies I've seen had always entertained me, so I bought a ticket without hesitation.

Recently a friend remembered I had mentioned that I was going to see it and asked if I would recommend it. Here's my best recollection of that conversation:

Friend: You think I should put it on my list (of movies to watch)?
Me: I had issues with the plot and themes that make me not want to promote it.
F: Tell me.
M: Do you know anything about it?
F: It's a Tyler Perry movie.
M: Uh huh, it's about a small town girl who grew up loving one man. They grow up together, got married, moved to the big city-
F: He cheats on her?
M: It's called Temptation! She chugs along, content with life; happy with her droll wardrobe and good guy, nerdy but sexy husband-
F: Of course, he's geeky and fine. (sarcasm)
M: I take offense.
F: You know what I mean.
M: It's an American movie - we don't put ugly people on TV.  Anyway, she's a little unhappy with work.
F: (chuckling) Perry had to keep it real somewhere.
M: Aside from work, if there is something wrong, she hasn't noticed it's wrong.  Enter tall, fit, good looking, charismatic, smart, driven, successful and RICH... I don't remember his name.
F: You never do! Let's call him Sexy, he sounds sexy.
M: Yep, he's super fine. They give him a lot of close-ups so you're sure to notice.
F: I want to see it already. I'm tempted.
M: (sucks teeth, rolls eyes)
F: Okay okay, tell me. He's a sleaze bag when you get to know him?
M: This is her movie. Sexy is just a player in it-
F: What's her name?
M: ... does it matter?
F: (chuckles)
M: Anyway, enter Sexy and she notices everything that makes him attractive, but she's not interested. They have to work closely together, she gets to know him, her attraction to him grows, she can't help but start comparing him and her husband. Her husband isn't measuring up. But, she's steadfast - she resists his blatant attempts at seduction because she's married - she believes in the bond and doesn't want to do anything to taint it. Then during one brazen seduction attempt, he kisses her and starts to feel her up. She repeatedly says, "no," while pushing him away, but, he keeps going. After she has rebuffed him about three times, he gets rougher and says something like, "okay, you've done your duty by protesting, now lets get real," and starts to kiss and feel her up some more.
F: Oh god, does she have a whistle?
M: Exactly! She actively starts to kiss him back, but I'm so confused; is she kissing him because she likes it or because she's afraid he'd beat her face in? It's highly ambiguous. Eventually the scene fades to black and I'm sitting there like, WTF, he just raped her.
F: Just a little ambiguous, then? Sounded like you felt sure.
M: It's only ambiguous because she starts to kiss him back. Throughout the whole scene my mind was on fire and body was getting the heebs cause I thought she was being raped. But, the rape in itself isn't even what makes me not want to recommend this movie. I don't oppose rape scenes as a plot device, but you have to make sure everybody knows it's rape.
F: He just told everyone watching, "even though she said 'no,' she doesn't really mean it  - keep going". 
M: Yes!
F: Was it rape?
M: I still don't really know. In the next scene she tells him, "I never want to see you again."
F: Rape.
M: The scene after that, we see her hooked on him; wants to see him, talk to him, upset at the thought of him with other women, going to his house.
F: She went crazy. His dick?
M: Because she is in love with him and his dick? Or, because he raped her and instead of accepting she is a rape victim, her mind wants to make the "sex" and their relationship meaningful... so she convinces herself she's in love and proceeds as if it is a relationship?
F: How does it end?
M: Sexy is revealed to be a scumbag, the husband a saint, and she is a trifling chick who didn't know how good she had it and wasted a good husband. Oh, that's the second part of why I left with bad feelings about this movie. It's as if it was written to promote male-pride at the expense of female-pride. Maybe I feel that way because I perceive it from the woman's perspective. I mean the movie eventually reveals Sexy was a scumbag and balances that with the husband being a saint. I wasn't surprised and I didn't even care that he was a scum, I had already sussed that out for myself. But, Tyler writes it as if all the blame is on her - she was painted in such a terrible light for falling into a trap.
F: C'mon, she dropped a good man for a rapey sleazebag - a cautionary tale.
M: She started out so wholesome. She snapped somewhere.
F: His dick.
M: The rape.

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To be clear, when my friend says, "his dick," she means his masterful sexual prowess. It's so phenomenal, it's guaranteed to make smart women lose their sense.

Links:
IMDB: Tyler Perry's Temptation

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Extra

Me: To top it off, Sexy gave her HIV.
Friend: Awww, poor Saintly Husband.
M: He didn't catch it.
F: Huh?

Last Tango in Halifax

TV Series: Last Tango in Halifax
aka: Caroline & Kate (to me at least)



Last Tango in Halifax can boast nuanced and clever writing as well as a talented ensemble cast, which includes Derek Jacobi (Claudius!). It centers around the families of two septuagenarians (Celia and Alan, played by Anne Reid and Derek Jacobi) who were once teenaged sweethearts and now reunited, have turned their smoldering ember of love for their first into a roaring blaze.

That is a great premise, but I'm watching for Caroline (Sarah Lancashire) and Kate (Nina Sosanya).

Caroline is presumably Celia's only child. Caroline is a fierce, competent and accomplished professional - head mistress of a posh school. She is a considerate and caring mother who successfully blends the roles of disciplinarian and friend to two strapping teenaged boys. Although, for all her awesome-sause, Caroline is a skittish cat when it comes to romantic relationships.

Caroline had been faithfully married for about 20 years but her husband left her for another woman. He later returned because he realized how good he had it at home. However, while he was away Kate was polishing up the woman he did dirty.

The fallen husband's return brings Caroline a choice: elbow grease and effort to make a happy home for her boys which include their father or continue growing this new and exhilarating fling with Kate.

She drops Kate like a hot rock.

She wants Kate, she totally wants Kate. But at this point, Caroline is uber analytical and her head says keeping a selfish cheating husband equals happy children, while keeping Kate will only make her (and Kate!) happy. Happy children trumps happy self.

Husband eventually cocks up again and Caroline lures Kate back. OK, that sounded predatory, maybe it was, dash a little selfishness in there too. Who calls their ex to commiserate about their current mistake of a partner? How is a woman who has never stopped wanting you supposed to interpret that? Kate was at Caroline's side within two heartbeats.

Kate. She teaches languages and music at Caroline's school. Beautiful, amiable and accomplished in her own right; Kate is amazing. Kate is patient. She offers a friendly shoulder when Caroline is initially left drifting from her husbands abandonment. She sees Caroline run her school like a duck in a pond, sees her strut down the corridor in her 4inchers, gets to know her as a friend: she is drawn. She confesses her feelings to Caroline and a fragile new thing starts. Kate is happy until the husband returns.

I feared Kate was going to be pathetic when she meets Caroline again and accept her back sans groveling or bend to Caroline's will in some way. I was pleasantly surprised when she made Caroline acknowledge her shady actions and promise to improve. Good work, Kate.

It's not all roses from there. They'll give the relationship a go, but there's a family with whom to share the new dynamics. Queue husband's hysterics, children's worry, mother's dramatics, would-be stepfather's sympathy; writing that will keep you riveted, make you laugh, and have you thinking about its layers for days.

I hope to see Kate in season series two. The way Last Tango in Halifax is written I root for a loving and lasting romance between Caroline and Kate, but Kate is the rebound, they can easily write her out of the show once she infuses Caroline with sufficient confidence in her ability to pull. Ahem, I'm going to stop here and leave some mystery. If you've never heard of this series outside of what I've written here - give it a shot.

If you have watched series 1 (only 6 episodes)... aren't you disappointed in the dearth of Caroline/Kate fiction. Their story is so fertile.

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LINKS

Fanfiction: http://www.fanfiction.net/tv/Last-Tango-in-Halifax/

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Tango_in_Halifax