Gerald's Game

* spoilers *

Jessie and her husband Gerald go to their isolated vacation home by a lake to relax and rekindle their relationship. When they arrive, Gerald wastes no time in taking some Viagra and handcuffing Jessie to the bed. When he roleplays that he's an intruder there to rape her, Jessie refuses to continue. He refuses to release her, relishing in the control, but then he has a heart attack and dies on top of his wife before he can uncuff her. Jessie pushes his body to the floor, but can't reach the keys or the phone. No neighbors can hear them and no one is expecting them to come back for days. Can Jessie escape the handcuffs or at least stay alive until someone will find her?

Gerald's Game is a faithful adaptation of the novel that makes minor changes to improve the story. The film establishes both Gerald's and Jessie's outlooks on life right at the beginning of the movie. A dog is in their way on the road. Jessie immediately feels sympathy for the starving animal and is on the cusp of adopting him. After they arrive, she doesn't hesitate to give the dog some of their food. Gerald, on the other hand, thinks of the dog as a nuisance that needs to be removed or killed. He also considers the extremely expensive food wasted on the dog. Jessie is kind hearted if oblivious to her wealth and Gerald is uncaring and cruel.

Once their roleplay starts, it's clear that Jessie puts up with a lot and wouldn't have protested until Gerald called himself "daddy." It triggers something in her and she soundly refuses. The book has him flat out planning to rape her and she physically fighting back, causing his heart attack. The film has a slightly less disgusting Gerald pondering their marriage and discussing with her (even though he previously refused to release her) and then dying due to possibly too many Viagra pills. It was a good call to not have an addition sexual assault onscreen when another one is more prevalent and important.

So Jessie is left lying on the bed with her hands in cuffs with no one to find her, away from anything that might help plus the dog is now eating her dead husband. The book has different versions of Jessie talking to her, insulting her, and giving her advice. The film version only has Gerald and Jessie. Gerald shows his true nature as a misogynist and an abuser by mocking her ideas and belittling her every step of the way trying to get her to give up. Hallucination Jessie is an idealized version of herself that gives her encouragement and helpful information while slinging insults right back at Gerald. Her physical appearance is pristine. The deterioration of real Jessie is highlighted throughout the movie with the visual comparison of her hallucination.

You might assume that the story is too basic to hold up for a full length film. You would be wrong because the rest of the film is Jessie trying to survive and mentally dealing with why she accepted so much abuse for so long. Jessie's world has become incredibly small because she's trapped. Insignificant things to her before like leaving a door open or placing a glass on the headboard are suddenly the stuff of life and death. We see things from Jessie's perspective on the bed, so even Gerald's body is only partially seen because of the vantage point. A misshapen  man shows up in her house at night with a box full of jewelry and bones, which she assumes is her hallucination of death. The fear of this figure spurns her on to take action to escape death.

The mental journey about her father's abuse is something she's tried to protect herself from since she was 12. By ignoring it, she found it easier to ignore many harsh truths in order to feel safe. The memories had a different look to them, almost dreamlike. The family dynamic is established before showing the abuse, the talk afterward, and Jessie's state afterwards. It's so insidious and disgusting how her disgusting father sets up the situation, puts the blame on himself and her, and then forces her to promise never to tell anyone. The aftermath isn't in the book, but makes more sense to show a possible solution to her problem.

Gerald's Game is an intense film that improves upon the book in subtle ways. The memories relate to things her subconscious is trying to tell her and makes more sense overall. The gore is subtle up until the end in a graphic, cringe inducing scene. The ending is much better than the book. Where the book simply sums up what happened, the film gives it meaning by having Jessie reclaim her life, get past her fears, and finally address and free her 12 year old self. It does come off a bit Lifetime Original Movie, but it fit for me based on Jessie's journey.

My rating: 4.5/5 fishmuffins