A cold hard look at the male libido
For a man I found this a rather difficult film to watch. In its depiction of male lust its uncompromising. Alicia Silverstone as the babysitter bcomes the object of the male gaze - the male at all ages -
- from the horny boy in his bedroom drooling over pin ups who then fantasises about going to have a peek at his babysitter in the bath
- to the two peeping toms outside her house who later almost get into a fight over her
- and finally to the scuzzy middle-aged sexually frustrated man who fantasise about getting her into his bed.
As a look at the male in all his "horny glory" it ain't pretty.
But I have to admit its rings true to my experience. What heterosexual male hasn't had fantasies like this?! I certainly have!
I'm not saying thats all there is to being a male but its one side of the male character to sure.
What lifts this film onto an even more interesting level is that the film makers haven't opted for the easy option - that is by making the babysitter a teaser or femme fatale. Thats how film makers usually like to ease the conscience of the male viewer. Something along the lines of "okay don't feel guilty if you lust after the babysitter because deep down shes really a little slut anyway!"
Instead the makers here have made her a genuinely decent ordinary girl who is completly unaware and innocent of all the raging male hormones she is unwittingly arousing.
All in all a very interesting and unsual film - and a moral lesson to all us males! [email protected]