Perfect Strangers (2003)

This film is so rare and unusual - I can't really think of many films that compare. If you want something you haven't seen before then this is for you. It seems some people don't like it but I can only assume they are not into anything off the beaten track and should perhaps stick to watching films such as 'White Chicks' and 'Deuce Bigalow'. I don't want to say anything more about it but if you like your movies with heart and intelligence then you must give it a go. Also, perhaps resist reading any reviews that give you too much of a synopsis. IMDb is letting me know I must include 10 lines of text so this is all filler, no killer folks! I shall try to think of films with a similar vibe...hmmm...closest I can come is Terry Gilliam's 'Brazil' (one of his rare moments of brilliance probably because of the influence of Tom Stoppard) Sort-of simultaneously horrible and wonderful!

I'm so sorry to see how divisive this movie has proved to be (at least if the IMDb boards are anything to go by - people arguing on the internet, who knew?). I haven't ever looked up this movie since I first saw a press screening back in 2003. There was much about it I wanted to forget. It affected me as punishingly as Wolf Creek or Requiem For a Dream. Characters you can identify with (Rachel Blake at any rate), are debased to the point that they are completely broken and in my case, the viewer along with them. I didn't feel properly myself again for a week.I never found Perfect Strangers difficult to understand, or pointless, as many other viewers have suggested and it certainly is beautiful, visually. In fact it is - to my mind - good in any number of ways. These two characters are drawn exactly as clearly as they need to be as their interplay moves to its hideous conclusion. It hurt me in a way that I haven't forgotten in nine years. A psychological drama of the darkest hue about which much is uncertain, but one thing is for sure: it leads in the end to permanent damage for all concerned.

I disagree with the previous comment. The movie possesses enough drama and suspense to keep the viewers interested until the very end. This is the story of two people who could have been happy together under different circumstances. It's also the story of what happens when people make the wrong choice. The movie asks the question what makes a certain choice the wrong one and points out that every choice could be both right and wrong. The music is well chosen, and the combination between Puccini's opera "Madam Butterfly" and a number of contemporary ballads enhances the atmosphere. The ending is unexpected and leaves the viewer surprised and delighted at the same time.

Yeah. Great movie. All about how ugly life is if you don't ever question anything. two nitwits act out the different imperatives of their egos and we have murder and tedium. This movie gets made because Canada, New Zealand and to some extent, Australia, have some kind of post-colonial guilt going on and this has backfired into 'all women directors must get their movies published' However, Hollywood only publishes crap by men so I guess its all even.This movie Isn't uplifiting, Isn't kind, Isn't beautiful, Isn't clever, Isn't witty.It has few redeeming qualities except for the wild landscape. Hey! take out the people and the story and this is one HELL of a nature documentary.If you see this movie and think that it 'shows life as it really is', you need to get out more. And to the person who said it describes the 'dating scene' out there, I say: bollocks.Oh and the acting wasn't great either.