THE BEAST IN ME
Returning to Jonathan Glazer's 'Sexy Beast' (2000) having recently watched his latest movie 'The Zone Of Interest (2023), reminded me just what a stunning cinematic debut it was for the director who'd previously been making waves in advertising and music videos with such classics as 'Surfer' for Guinness and 'Street Spirit' for Radiohead.
Aside from the sheer technical brilliance of the production, the script snaps like a crisp punch and the impish mixing of genres results in a film that still defies conventional categorisation, in much the same way as Nic Roeg's groundbreaking rock/gangster movie 'Performance' (1970) did thirty years before it.
But what always catches me off-guard when I watch 'Sexy Beast' is the love story at the heart of the film and how its central theme seems to be about a man, Gal Dove (Ray Winstone), having to prove his devotion to his wife, Deedee (Amanda Redman) by undergoing a punishing trial before finally exorcising the demons of his past to be free to love her without looking over his shoulder in fear of losing what they share together. Gal could be seen as a wayward, modern knight errant with Deedee the lady whose honour he must serve and protect. In this sense the entire film could be seen as a subliminal and unconventional renewing of marriage vows and Gal's returning to London's underworld (both a literal and symbolic underworld) from his Spanish 'Eden' is his final initiation before he can finally settle down to enjoy his paradise in their hacienda in the hills. To emphasise the romantic aspect of the story even further, Gal has no choice but to forego his payment for a bank heist when the shady powers that be (Teddy Bass played by Ian McShane) suspect he has killed one of their own. What he does secretly take as way of payment for his effort is a pair of ruby and diamond earrings for Deedee.
The true nemesis to Gal throughout the film is the psychopathic Don Logan (Ben Kingsley) who appears to be so trapped in his alpha valance that he is beyond saving by a woman or by the virtues of love in any guise. In this sense he is much like an emotional eunuch, so caught up in his desire to be in control of the men in his circle that he cannot concede one inch of his soul to ever appear vulnerable to the opposite sex. This explains why he is so supremely aggressive and rude in front of the women in the film whether it be Gal's wife, Deedee (Amanda Rodman), her best friend, Jackie (Julianne White) or the female air stewardess who asks him politely to extinguish his cigarette. He knows that ultimately he cannot win their affections so has to denigrate them instead. Don is also aware that the men around him know this which is why he insists on making them also subordinate to his control. If he cannot have love, then like Alberich in Wagner's 'Das Rheingold', everyone must pay a price for that deficit.
Of course, in the end, Gal (being the more balanced) of the two men, returns home to his Spanish home where he can concentrate on his future with Deedee and leave the past where devils lurk behind (or beneath) him.
What made 'Sexy Beast' such an unusual film is that the protagonist (a criminal) is afforded a happy ending where he doesn't face punishment by the law or by his gangster peers for his involvement in illegal indiscretions. The only other film that pulls off a similar coup in recent times is Werner Herzog's 'Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans' (2009) starring Nicholas Cage although in that instance the central protagonist is not a criminal but a corrupt detective.
Love wins the day in 'Sexy Beast' and I can't think of too many examples (if any) in the genre where that happens. This is why Glazer's criminal fairytale is a British masterpiece to sit alongside Roeg's 1970 classic 'Performance'.
Both films broke the mould and in so doing, set themselves apart from the rest of the competition.