Rebound Reviews: "Being John Malkovich"

Craig is left quite literally in the dust, and later becomes (through his own wrongdoing) permanently disembodied — as powerless as can be and unable to ruin Maxine and Lotte's domestic bliss. It's potentially one of the happiest lesbian couplings in recent history, and it only took two hours of body transmogrification to get there.

One of the most interesting elements of the film is the whimsical and even playful attitude towards gender. To be more precise, the emphasis here is less on gender and more on the desire to be someone — anyone — else.

At one point in the film, Craig describes puppetry in similar terms, saying, "The desire to be in someone else's skin is overwhelming." It doesn't seem to truly matter that Malkovich is male, though that initially plays a part in Maxine and Lotte's relationship. He is merely the physical representation of being someone new, seeing the world through new eyes.

The same can be said of using others, which is the other main theme of the film: manipulation. It's no coincidence that Craig is a master puppeteer, eventually gaining control of Malkovich's body and living in it as if it were his own.

Maxine is guilty of the same crime, as she leaves Lotte for a time in order to use Malkovich/Craig to rise to fame. Everyone who "uses" Malkovich runs the risk of being disembodied (which happens to the power-hungry Craig), of literally losing him or herself. So while the urge to experience the world through new eyes is enticing, it's not the way to go.

The characters and the strange journeys they embark upon truly make the movie. Maxine begins the film as a sexy, manipulative conniver, forever confidant and used to getting what she wants. Throughout the course of the film, she is open to new experiences, falls in love, ignores that love, suffers and then finds love again.

Lotte starts off as a goofy, aloof animal lover, begins to think she's better off in a male body, falls in love, forgets about the body thing and ends up being happy.

Craig fares worse. He begins the film as a misunderstood artist, he connives and manipulates, and eventually he ends up powerless and trapped.

At its heart, in fact, the movie is a love story and parable about finding oneself. Craig is punished at the end because he can't be satisfied being himself, and he manipulates people to get what he wants.

Both Lotte and Maxine suffer throughout the film — Lotte because she feels like she needs to be in Malkovich to be happy, and Maxine because she won't admit that she loves Lotte (not Malkovich) until the end. Throughout all the insanity and complications, Lotte and Maxine find each other, lose each other and reconnect in a twist on the classic "girl meets girl; girl loses girl; girl wins girl back" romantic comedy paradigm.

Being John Malkovich is not a film for the faint-of-brain, nor for those who can't appreciate its incredibly quirky worldview or sense of humor. But the film has some interesting things to say about the nature of gender and sexuality, and it never sensationalizes or belittles said notions. Plus, it is monstrously funny — at least for those who enjoy the offbeat.

But perhaps most importantly, it features a strange but happy little lesbian love story at its heart, proving that not every mainstream lesbian relationship has to be sensationalized or oversimplified to be effective in a film.