Hallam Foe (trailer here), which has been tearing up the European awards circuit, is going to be released in America under the title Mister Foe. I don't understand the name change, but I'm happy to finally get the chance to watch [Whatever] Foe.
Most movies about voyeurism — I'm thinking of Rear Window and Peeping Tom — do postmodern things like "implicate the viewer" and "meta-comment on cinema an sich." There's nothing like that in Hallam Foe-the-book, which always makes it clear that Hallam's habit of spying on his friends isn't a way of escaping the action in order to appreciate it but, at least in his mind, is its own way of participating. His voyeurism doesn't really map on to the kind of voyeurism that happens when someone watches a film. Thank God for that. May director David MacKenzie continue to be delivered from self-reference.
In the novel, Hallam picks a church near his family's house to be his voyeurism headquarters, and at one point the wicked step-mother comes into the church, kneels at a pew, and delivers this speech:
"I don't know if you're listening or not. I know you don't like to reveal yourself. Thank you for the flowers. I bullied the shop girl into telling me. You shouldn't have paid by credit card, unless you wanted me to know it was you playing these games. Did you want me to, and are they games?There isn't any actual confusion for the reader about whether Verity Foe is talking to God or her step-son (unless God bought her flowers, which would be weird), but her address to Hallam does take the form of a prayer, which raises an interesting question: do we pray to God because we think He's going to do something, or because He's watching?
"I hope you don't think I'm going to break down and repent for the things I've done. I don't regret a thing. But I have some good news for you. A tumour. No one else knows, certainly not Julius. You and I both know he runs from illness, and I would have preferred to enjoy these last few months before the outward signs started to show. But you've put an end to that. So, what next? I know what you want to do, even if you don't. And I want you to know that I want it too. Fast." She paused then, her voice shaking but courageous. "Are you a coward?"
Verity and Hallam both waited. Birds chirruped outside, just audible over the sound of a lawnmower down the road.
"The trouble is, you're not going to tell me, are you? Or maybe you're not there and I'm just going mad. Yes, that's probably it."
More Foe videos here and here.
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