The Monkey's Mask
Encyclopedia
The Monkey's Mask is a 2000 thriller film directed by Samantha Lang. It stars Susie Porter
and Kelly McGillis
. Porter plays a lesbian
private detective who falls in love with a suspect (McGillis) in the disappearance of a young woman. The film is based on the verse novel of the same name by Australian poet Dorothy Porter
.
) reads a poem to an audience at a bar. When she leaves, she gets into an unseen person's car.
Jill Fitzpatrick (Porter) is a former police officer and a private detective who investigates missing persons. She gets a job to look for Mickey, who has been missing for two weeks. Jill goes to Mickey's university and meets her poetry professor, Diana (McGillis). Jill is quickly attracted to Diana, who is married. They meet several times for coffee, not always talking about Mickey, and go out for a drink. They eventually sleep together.
Jill hears from Mickey's parents that Mickey's body has been found. They want Jill to continue investigating because the police are "no help". Jill continues working but is distracted by her affair with Diana. One day Diana's husband catches them together, but he is not bothered.
Jill's friend Lou introduces her to the poet community. She meets two poets, Bill and Tony, both of whom are older men who were having sexual relationships with Mickey. Neither want to talk to Jill. Jill reads some of Mickey's poems that were written about Bill. Sexually explicit, Diana calls them "victim poetry" and calls Mickey a "nympho
". Jill starts receiving threatening telephone messages from someone with their voice disguised. Mickey's flatmate gives Jill a video taken of Mickey in the bar the night she went missing.
One night Diana chokes Jill during sex to achieve erotic asphyxiation
. Later Diana asks her if she enjoyed it. Jill says she cannot remember. Jill meets Bill who tells her that Mickey "broke" him and made him write filth. He says he has evidence connected to the case and will come to Jill's house with it. On his way to her house, Bill's car explodes and he dies.
Jill tells Diana that Bill had told her about some "evil" poems Mickey had written. Diana says they must track them down. Jill begins to wonder who else was in Mickey's life and asks Diana if Mickey ever wrote poems for her. Diana says she does not know, but that Mickey was straight, that other women were just competition to her. Jill gets upset that Diana seems unconcerned by Mickey's death, and leaves.
She goes to Brisbane
to meet the poet Tony. He tells her that Mickey kept a diary, that she handed it in to Diana as a poetry assignment. Later, Jill breaks into Diana's office but the diary is gone. She now knows that Diana has lied to her. Tony's wife Barbara comes to see Jill. She tells her that Diana tampered with Bill's car and that Diana has been seeing Tony for months and is crazy about him. She told Tony that Jill seduced her.
Jill goes home to find it broken into. The video of Mickey has been destroyed. Jill finds the copy of the tape she made and watches it. She sees Diana on the tape, talking to Mickey. She then sees Mickey leave the bar with Diana and her husband.
Jill meets Diana's husband Nick. She asks him if he loves Diana. He says yes, and that Jill does too. He flirts with her and they begin to have sex. He puts his hand on her throat and she asks him if he killed Mickey. He tells her he did, and that Diana was there. It was a sex game that went wrong.
Jill takes her evidence to the police. She meets Diana who tells her that if she tells anyone what she knows, they will sue her. Meanwhile, the police look at the evidence and listen to an audio tape Jill took of Nick confessing.
Critical response to the film was somewhat negative. A. O. Scott
for the New York Times wrote "[t]here is something charming about the movie's vision of poetry as a sleazy, glamorous pursuit" but called Lang's direction "flat" and "paceless" and criticised the "painfully expository script" for "some astonishingly bad dialogue." Ronald Mangravite for the Miami New Times
called it "run-of-the-mill" and "very, very routine." He comments that "[a]s film noir, this is routine straight-to-video material. As lesbian cinema, it's hardly groundbreaking material." Paula Nechak's review for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
is more positive and praises Susie Porter who she says "radiates intelligence and carries an accessible sexiness to the screen."
Susie Porter
Susie Porter is a multiple award winning Australian television and film actress.-Television:Susie Porter began her acting career in one episode of House Gang, a short lived television program. She then had small roles in other Australian television programs in the late 1990s, including Big Sky,...
and Kelly McGillis
Kelly McGillis
Kelly Ann McGillis is an American actress. Her films include Top Gun, The Accused, and Witness, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination.-Career:...
. Porter plays a lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
private detective who falls in love with a suspect (McGillis) in the disappearance of a young woman. The film is based on the verse novel of the same name by Australian poet Dorothy Porter
Dorothy Porter
Dorothy Featherstone Porter was an Australian poet.-Early life:Porter was born in Sydney. Her father was barrister Chester Porter and her mother, Jean, was a high school chemistry teacher. Porter attended the Queenwood School for Girls...
.
Plot
A young woman called Mickey (Abbie CornishAbbie Cornish
Abbie Cornish is an Australian actress. She is well known in Australia for a number of film and television roles, particularly her award-winning lead performance in 2004's Somersault, and internationally for her role as Fanny Brawne in Bright Star and her appearance as Sweet Pea in Sucker Punch.-...
) reads a poem to an audience at a bar. When she leaves, she gets into an unseen person's car.
Jill Fitzpatrick (Porter) is a former police officer and a private detective who investigates missing persons. She gets a job to look for Mickey, who has been missing for two weeks. Jill goes to Mickey's university and meets her poetry professor, Diana (McGillis). Jill is quickly attracted to Diana, who is married. They meet several times for coffee, not always talking about Mickey, and go out for a drink. They eventually sleep together.
Jill hears from Mickey's parents that Mickey's body has been found. They want Jill to continue investigating because the police are "no help". Jill continues working but is distracted by her affair with Diana. One day Diana's husband catches them together, but he is not bothered.
Jill's friend Lou introduces her to the poet community. She meets two poets, Bill and Tony, both of whom are older men who were having sexual relationships with Mickey. Neither want to talk to Jill. Jill reads some of Mickey's poems that were written about Bill. Sexually explicit, Diana calls them "victim poetry" and calls Mickey a "nympho
Hypersexuality
Hypersexuality is extremely frequent or suddenly increased sexual urges or sexual activity. Hypersexuality is typically associated with lowered sexual inhibitions. Although hypersexuality can be caused by some medical conditions or medications, in most cases the cause is unknown...
". Jill starts receiving threatening telephone messages from someone with their voice disguised. Mickey's flatmate gives Jill a video taken of Mickey in the bar the night she went missing.
One night Diana chokes Jill during sex to achieve erotic asphyxiation
Erotic asphyxiation
Erotic asphyxiation or breath control play is the intentional restriction of oxygen to the brain for sexual arousal. The sexual preference for that behavior is variously called asphyxiophilia, autoerotic asphyxia, hypoxyphilia. Colloquially, a person engaging in the activity is sometimes called a...
. Later Diana asks her if she enjoyed it. Jill says she cannot remember. Jill meets Bill who tells her that Mickey "broke" him and made him write filth. He says he has evidence connected to the case and will come to Jill's house with it. On his way to her house, Bill's car explodes and he dies.
Jill tells Diana that Bill had told her about some "evil" poems Mickey had written. Diana says they must track them down. Jill begins to wonder who else was in Mickey's life and asks Diana if Mickey ever wrote poems for her. Diana says she does not know, but that Mickey was straight, that other women were just competition to her. Jill gets upset that Diana seems unconcerned by Mickey's death, and leaves.
She goes to Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
to meet the poet Tony. He tells her that Mickey kept a diary, that she handed it in to Diana as a poetry assignment. Later, Jill breaks into Diana's office but the diary is gone. She now knows that Diana has lied to her. Tony's wife Barbara comes to see Jill. She tells her that Diana tampered with Bill's car and that Diana has been seeing Tony for months and is crazy about him. She told Tony that Jill seduced her.
Jill goes home to find it broken into. The video of Mickey has been destroyed. Jill finds the copy of the tape she made and watches it. She sees Diana on the tape, talking to Mickey. She then sees Mickey leave the bar with Diana and her husband.
Jill meets Diana's husband Nick. She asks him if he loves Diana. He says yes, and that Jill does too. He flirts with her and they begin to have sex. He puts his hand on her throat and she asks him if he killed Mickey. He tells her he did, and that Diana was there. It was a sex game that went wrong.
Jill takes her evidence to the police. She meets Diana who tells her that if she tells anyone what she knows, they will sue her. Meanwhile, the police look at the evidence and listen to an audio tape Jill took of Nick confessing.
Cast
- Susie PorterSusie PorterSusie Porter is a multiple award winning Australian television and film actress.-Television:Susie Porter began her acting career in one episode of House Gang, a short lived television program. She then had small roles in other Australian television programs in the late 1990s, including Big Sky,...
as Jill Fitzpatrick, private investigator - Kelly McGillisKelly McGillisKelly Ann McGillis is an American actress. Her films include Top Gun, The Accused, and Witness, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination.-Career:...
as Professor Diana Maitland, married university professor who begins an affair with Jill - Marton CsokasMarton Csokas-Early life:Csokas was born in Invercargill, New Zealand. His mother, a nurse, is of Irish and Danish descent; his Hungarian-born father, also named Márton Csókás, worked as a mechanical engineer...
as Nick Maitland, Diana's husband - Abbie CornishAbbie CornishAbbie Cornish is an Australian actress. She is well known in Australia for a number of film and television roles, particularly her award-winning lead performance in 2004's Somersault, and internationally for her role as Fanny Brawne in Bright Star and her appearance as Sweet Pea in Sucker Punch.-...
as Mickey Norris, university student who disappears and is later found dead - William Zappa as Detective Sergeant Wesley, Jill's old boss in the police force
- Brendan CowellBrendan CowellBrendan Cowell is an Australian actor, screenwriter and director. Cowell was born in Sydney. He stumbled upon acting by accident while waiting for his sister to come out of a rehearsal; he was then cast in a commercial at age 8...
as Hayden - Jim HoltJim Holt (actor)Jim Holt, is a British-born actor who has appeared in many Australian television shows and films.Holt is also a magician, and has had the opportunity to incorporate this talent into some of his television appearances. Well known productions in which he has appeared include "Crocodile" Dundee II, A...
as Bill McDonald, poet who was having an affair with Mickey - Bojana NovakovicBojana NovakovicBojana Novakovic is a Serbian Australian actress who works in Australia and the United States.-Early and personal life:Novakovic was born in 1981 in Serbia. She moved to Australia in 1988, at the age of seven. Novakovic was initially interested in becoming a social worker or doctor, but after a...
as Tianna - Jean-Pierre Mignon as Tony Brach, poet who was having an affair with Mickey, and is also seeing Diana
- Caroline GillmerCaroline GillmerCaroline Gillmer is an Australian actress, best known for her roles in various television series, such as Prisoner as Helen Smart and Neighbours as Cheryl Stark....
as Barbara Brach, Tony's wife - John NobleJohn NobleJohn Noble is an Australian film and television actor, and theater director of more than 80 plays. He was born in Port Pirie, South Australia, Australia and is currently starring as scientist Walter Bishop in the J. J. Abrams television series Fringe.He made occasional appearances on the...
as Mr. Norris, Mickey's father - Linden WilkinsonLinden WilkinsonLinden Wilkinson is an Australian film, television and theatre actress and writer. She is perhaps best known for her recurring role in soap opera Home and Away playing 'The Believers' cult leader Mumma Rose. Her other roles include appearances on Prisoner: Cell Block H, A Country Practice, Water...
as Mrs. Norris, Mickey's mother - Chris HaywoodChris HaywoodChris Haywood is an English-born, Australian-based film and television actor/producer.-Early life:Haywood was born in Billericay, Essex, England. He spent his early childhood in Chelmsford before moving to High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire where he attended High Wycombe Royal Grammar School from...
as Dad Fitzpatrick, Jll's father - Deborah MailmanDeborah MailmanDeborah Mailman , is an Australian television and film actress. She was the first Aboriginal actress to win the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role...
as Lou, Jill's friend - Charlotte Rose Regan as Cerebral Girl
- Johnny LeeJohnny Lee (actor)John Dotson "Johnny" Lee, Jr. was an American singer, dancer and actor known for voicing the role of Br'er Rabbit in Disney's Song of the South...
as Tai Chi Instructor - Sara Nunn as Comforting Policewoman
- Brian Wood as Brian, the poet
Reception
The Monkey's Mask won the Australian Screen Sound Guild award for Soundtrack of the Year in 2001. Susie Porter won the award for Best Actress at the Dallas OUT TAKES festival also in 2001.Critical response to the film was somewhat negative. A. O. Scott
A. O. Scott
Anthony Oliver Scott, known as A. O. Scott , is an American journalist and critic. He is a chief film critic for The New York Times, along with Manohla Dargis.-Background and education:...
for the New York Times wrote "[t]here is something charming about the movie's vision of poetry as a sleazy, glamorous pursuit" but called Lang's direction "flat" and "paceless" and criticised the "painfully expository script" for "some astonishingly bad dialogue." Ronald Mangravite for the Miami New Times
Miami New Times
The Miami New Times is a free weekly newspaper published in Miami and distributed every Thursday. It primarily serves the Miami area and is headquartered near Miami's Design District.-Overview:...
called it "run-of-the-mill" and "very, very routine." He comments that "[a]s film noir, this is routine straight-to-video material. As lesbian cinema, it's hardly groundbreaking material." Paula Nechak's review for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is an online newspaper and former print newspaper covering Seattle, Washington, United States, and the surrounding metropolitan area...
is more positive and praises Susie Porter who she says "radiates intelligence and carries an accessible sexiness to the screen."