Review: The Aftermath is the cinematic equivalent of crying after sex GlobeArts
, a campy melodrama from director James Kent, who creates an ill-fated love triangle between a British society lady cloistered in post-Second World War Hamburg with her emotionally deadened army colonel husband and the smouldering potential Nazi sympathizer living in her attic.
Based on the bestselling novel by Rhidian Brook, the film looks and feels expensive with sumptuous cinematography, impressive production design, and silky gowns for Knightley to wear. It dazzles like the perfume commercials she does for Chanel.To the director’s credit, he also boasts a few flourishes of creativity, such as a score that pulsates like a heartbeat every time Knightley gets kissed.
Our story begins when Rachel and her husband Lewis, a high-ranking officer in the British navy repossess an old historic mansion in the bombed-out husk of a former grand city centre. She’s the new lady of the house, trying her best to cope with the death of her son by making passive aggressive comments at the maids and rearranging the furniture. To quote Rhett Butler, Rachel needs to be kissed, and often, and by someone who knows how.
The dusky mid-century manse, which is a central character with its gold leaf wallpaper and gorgeous antique armoires, was previously owned by Stefan , a sulky German architect and widower who lives there with his teenage daughter. Thanks to the fall of Hitler, Stefan reluctantly agrees to hand it over to his new tenants. Somehow, out of the goodness of his heart, or maybe just the contrivances of the plot, Lewis agrees to let these good Germans stay against his wife’s protests .
Now scurrying down the hallways and secretly rifling through each other’s belongings, the close quarters and stultifying boredom bring Rachel and Stefan together for the inevitable consummation of some highly repressed sexual desires and a mutual need for tenderness. They eventually make passionate love in one of those crazy sex movie scenes where everyone manages to writhe in passion with all their clothes still half on, just as the other person’s partner is about to walk in through the door.
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