Submission

It could have had more layers and it left me feeling disappointed that opportunities to do so were not taken. In the end, it lacked intensity and ended up being just a cliche story with no surprises.

Stanley Tucci plays a professor at a mediocre college (the way his character would let you believe, it's barely one step up from a trade school) that he teaches at in between gigs as a sometime author (and for the "medical insurance") who is dissatisfied at where he's ended up at this point in his life. Student Angela seems to admire the bored professor, and when she catches his ear, timidly asks him to review chapters of a book she's written to get his feedback. Unbeknownst to him (and initially, us), she is manipulating him from the get go. He doesn't even necessarily develop any feelings for her (he states later he was sidelined by a notion of adolescent romance), but he does get sucked into her doe eyes and fawning admiration of his opinion - until it doesn't suit her needs anymore. His distaste for the daily minutia of dinner parties and clueless students allow him to let his guard down, pulling him towards a clumsy tryst in Angela's room that is satistying for neither, except she now uses this new level of intemacy to essentially harangue him into showing her chapters to his agent/publisher. When this produces a dead end for Angela, she of course accuses him of sexual harrasment, at which point you really learn how twisted this girl really is and who she'll hurt to get what she wants. The supporting roles of Tucci's vanilla wife and distant daughter are apparently part of the story to show how much the professor has risked, but the daughter is so briefly added to the story and so unlikable, and the wife so bland, that their presence isn't even necessary. It's mostly a story about how when we feel lost in our life, we can be easily manipulated, especially when we're unsure about who we are and what we're willing to do in order to capture a glimpse of who we want to be.

It's sad, for students who don't have a bad purpose from getting close to professors and it makes them think how far they could have been treated as inappropriate and immoral. But it's good for teachers not to allow any student to approach, of course it's hard to recognize.

Surprised at the low score on Rotten Tomatoes and by other "reputable" critics. They must have left before Tucci's final speech at the "sexual harassment" hearing. He summed up all the nuance and complexity of the central relationship and the loss of a chunk of his life at a middling college with mediocre PC self-righteous faculty. The only aspect I found unconvincing in the film was the cliche reaction of the wife and daughter: the wronged females, without any exploration of issues of marital and filial loyalty, generosity, acceptance, even the possibility of forgiveness.The rest was beautifully balanced, fleshing out quite satisfactorily the ambiguity of the central relationship. Both parties are responsible and there's no simplistic perspective of the male as sexual predator. On the contrary, the young woman is far more aggressive in using her charms as a means to fulfill her ulterior motives. As a woman, I applaud this narrative and dramatic choice. Most of the time, sexual harassment is a two way thing, females often being more deadlier than the male. The young actress did a beautiful job, but the movie was carried single handedly by Mr Tucci. There's no character he doesn't bring subtlety and nuance to. He's absolutely pitch perfect here as the conflicted, flawed but self-aware central character. His portrayal elicits oodles of sympathy from the viewer. A look, a twitch of the eyebrow, a verbal quip: Tucci is a master of this. I could watch him on a loop forever. Incredibly satisfying viewing.

Difficult to watch. A well made movie with good story & acting, but the topic was rolled out in a very gritty real kind of way. You can predict disaster awaits the main character in terms of marriage & work. You can sense it is going to happen, and I found it too intense to watch! A realistic negative tragic tale. In a world where we have a tendency to focus on tragedies & problems, I decided to skip most of the movie & seek out something more upbeat or positive.

As an expert in philosophy and philosophy of ethics, I do not want to talk about the structure of the film and its quality in this review, because I believe that this film is an issue that expresses a more important issue about ethics. We have a kind of excessive self-foundation in individualistic ethics, where we are selfish and face the world through the lens of attributing our own interests only, thus removing them from our lives with the slightest harm to our expectations of others. The root of this problem lies in selfishness. On the other hand, human beings can be seen as beings who are also prone to error, beings who have a higher status in society, while having more moral and social responsibilities, but also face higher moral tests. There is a proverb in Persian that says: "Whoever has more roof, more snow" So if we see successful people as people who may make mistakes like ourselves, with their first mistake, no matter how big and important, We do not leave them alone; This is possible in a kind of moral altruism. In this film, the main victim is the professor and not the student, but for the moral judgment of the film, he moves completely towards error. A professor who is in the middle of a scenario designed by his student and is deceived and caught by his fascination with the fantasy world. Like a victim caught in a spider web. But what is the judgment of the people and the community around him? How do his friends and wife deal with the professor? They reject him and no one sympathizes with him and does not try to understand his situation. Interestingly, he himself says at the end of the film, while writing, "I have to admit that I betrayed their trust." The problem is that this moral rule in social relations leads to the rejection and loneliness of human beings. Relationships break down, leading to depression and even the suicide of rejected people. Of course, we must live by the principles of moral justice in ourselves, but we must also know that we need "forgiveness." If we do not try to "understand" friends, loved ones, and even all human beings through dialogue, and simply destroy them out of selfishness in the face of others' mistakes as "betrayal," we may one day fall victim to this rule of error ourselves. But the solution to selfishness is compassionate otherness, which leads to "forgiveness" and gives people hope to return to life. If I had a part in the production of this film, I would change its name to "Forgiveness" and try to convey the right message to the viewer of the film, not to confuse the viewer with this error and say that this is society and you too. Accept this sick community and be a part of it!

Im pissed and super annoyed. I just simply dont like the situation that lead the professor to.. better watch to understand.

Jtncsmistad provided a great review. Please do take a look at it. To add my thoughts I am a fan of Tucci, Sedgwick, and Garofalo. The first half of the movie held my interest and I thought they all gave great performances but the second half of the movie unfortunately was very predictable. I don't mind predictable with an interesting story but in this case even great acting did not save the story. Worth a watch and definitely watch if you are a teacher.

Stanley Tucci comes off from the start of this film as very self-aware and intelligent, so the first half of the film had me guessing that he was trying to manipulate his student in order to steal her manuscript, while she was trying to manipulate him in order to get a book deal and each suspected the other's intentions. No such luck, as it turns out, because apparently we are supposed to believe that he really believed the student actually was attracted to him, and that's where the film lost me. There could have been a good cat and mouse story here, but there wasn't, and the ending wound up feeling more like Election and less like the Blue Angel, and this film isn't as clever as either of those.

Despite strong performances and good direction this film fizzles out and leaves you disappointed with too many unanswered questions.