A Perfect Life (2011)

So much average

Simply Perfect

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

"A Perfect Life" is thoroughly revolting and unpleasant due to the excessive violence.The film is set in a large warehouse that has been transformed into a set of torture chambers. A crazed lover (Rachel) lures a man (Andy) with whom she has been having an affair to the warehouse, then prepares to torture both him and his wife.It was not clear until late in the film how the nut case Rachel was able to get the wife (Helen) to agree to come to the warehouse. But once she has her two victims caught in her spider's web, the Marquise de Sade moves into action with her gruesome torture scheme.Rachel has some talent when it comes to the design of her electric, mechanical, and medical torture devices. The warehouse has been rigged with a special lie detector machine that is tied to a set of spikes that will come down on poor Andy if he tells too many lies. Similarly, Helen has been placed in her private chamber, which will blow up in a gas explosion if a special device is triggered...by Andy.It is difficult imagine a more grotesque example of a "romantic thriller" than this dimly lit and lurid exercise in film violence.Thumbs down!

Perhaps the concept of a "weighted average," which some viewers have found unjustified and misleading, should indeed be scrapped. Differences of opinion are of course inevitable and on the whole a good thing, but there are some evaluations which appear to just about everyone to be intuitively obvious. The 2.0 score which currently shows at IMDb is stunning. Of the three user reviews, one gives it a seven and two a nine. This can't be due to the users being Australian reviewers of an Australian film. The film has an intriguing plot, the actors are excellent in their roles and the direction and cinematography are on the whole well above what we've been typically treated to in this genre. The 2.0 score will discourage viewers who would otherwise have found this movie well worth their time. We're not talking about a masterpiece by any means, but if that were our standard we'd watch one movie every ten years. Don't be misled by the very odd 2.0.

I bought this film not expecting much as it doesn't have any big stars but I was pleasantly surprised. It really rocked! The acting was solid, and the hunky star of the film, Johan Earl really made the journey complete for me. Personally, I can't wait to see more from him :-) Overall this film is a gritty, sexy psychological thriller in the vein of Fatal Attraction crossed with Misery but with the added gore it makes it a must see for fans of psychological thrillers. Watch for the Catheda scene...Ouch! I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it but when Andrew Walters is strapped up and connected to a lie detector his entire world crumbles apart and must take drastic and desperate measures to get out alive. Any of you guys out there who think about cheating on their partners - beware! Defeintely worth a watch. There's new stars in the making in this film without a doubt.

I saw this film at it's premier having no idea what to expect but was really blown away by it. It's a dark and intense thriller that gives new meaning to the phrase, "the truth hurts". I absolutely loved the concept of the main character (played by Earl) being tortured by his lover with a machine that's connected to a lie detector. She presses him for the truth and every time he tells a lie, his pain level increases. And on top of that, his wife has also been kidnapped and being forced to watch the whole thing! A very disturbing concept but strangely entertaining none the less, it keeps you guessing right till the very end like every good thriller does. Great performances, script, cinematography, editing and score. I highly recommend it!