Review: The Girls Were Doing Nothing

film reviews | movies | features | BRWC Review: The Girls Were Doing Nothing

[EDIT – The version of the film we saw was a work in progress cut.  The final sound mix, color grading and editing touches need to be completed.]

Marta and Jake are a married couple in their late 30’s. Working in senior professional positions, they are very wealthy: living together in a luxurious cosmopolitan home while spending much of their free time eating at expensive restaurants and exercising at private gyms. Their idealistic lifestyle is a grandiose means of concealing and deflecting the strains of their spousal dynamic. For Jake and Marta, communication has become an obligation; intimacy has become a rarity; and love itself has become a cliché. All of that is about to change when Andrea, their attractive and affable neighbour, asks Jake and Marta for a favour while she goes on holiday.

Exquisitely shot and measured in both tone and pace, The Girls Were Doing Nothing shouldn’t be dismissed as an exercise in style-porn. The opulence in which the lead characters adorn themselves belies the void within their relationship and the desire for meaningful interaction, closeness and connection, the driving force of the narrative. Told from Marta’s perspective we see the malignancy of familiarity and its effect on her life, while both she and Jake remain silent throughout, it’s their actions that do the talking.



An otherworldliness radiates from both Katie Alexander Thom (Marta) and Malcom Jeffries’ (Jake) performances as their carapaces armour them, keeping up appearances, only for the facade to slip in private. Picture 50 Shades if it had an actual message. The photography, reminiscent of David Fincher’s Gone Girl offers an evolution of harshness slowly bleeding into warmth, which is symbolic of Marta and Jake’s journey.

The first part in a Dekel Berenson’s The Eros Trilogy, I look forward to Borderlines and The Surface of All Things as they continue the themes and stylistic vision delivered here.


We hope you're enjoying BRWC. You should check us out on our social channels, subscribe to our newsletter, and tell your friends. BRWC is short for battleroyalewithcheese.


Trending on BRWC:

Dune Part 2: The BRWC Review

Dune Part 2: The BRWC Review

By Rosalynn Try-Hane / 28th February 2024 / 2 Comments
Tim Travers & The Time Travelers Paradox: Review

Tim Travers & The Time Travelers Paradox: Review

By BRWC / 19th March 2024
Spaceman: The BRWC Review

Spaceman: The BRWC Review

By BRWC / 5th March 2024 / 1 Comment
Ride Baby Ride: Short Review

Ride Baby Ride: Short Review

By BRWC / 10th March 2024
Dogman Blu-Ray Comp!

ENDED: Dogman Blu-Ray Comp!

By Alton Williams / 10th March 2024

Cool Posts From Around the Web:



Regular type person by day, film vigilante by night. Spent years as a 35mm projectionist (he got taller) and now he gets to watch and wax lyrical about all manner of motion pictures. Daryl has got a soft spot for naff Horror and he’d consider Anime to be his kryptonite.

NO COMMENTS

POST A COMMENT

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.