Hard Candy: a 2017 retrospective
I’ll be the first to admit it; I’m a sucker for torture porn-esque films. Well, at least I was in high school. My middle to high school guilty pleasure was indulging in gore-fests. I watched everything from the infamous Martyrs, to the phenomenal Ichi the Killer, flooding my adolescent brain with the most grotesque imagery. Don’t ask me why I did it (and still do it); I just have a weakness for making my stomach turn.
One of my favorite movies, at the time, was Hard Candy, a 2005 movie starring Ellen Page and Patrick Wilson. I watched this movie to the point of exhaustion, until a friend borrowed my DVD of the movie and never returned it (you know who you are (this is a total joke)). I was cut from my Hard Candy addiction.
Now, in 2017, Hard Candy recently returned to Netflix, and, boy, does it deserve a rewatch in this current political climate. Sexual harassment and pedophilia are the bulk of headlines today. In this climate, Hard Candy is a much different watch; it is no longer a film that questions morality, as reviewers of the time praised it for, but rather it’s an all out assault on the problems plaguing Hollywood, while being some grade A revenge porn.
Hard Candy is a difficult film to both watch and critique. It’s violent, sexually charged, and a testing of how much one can stomach, all the while being fueled by the sexual dealings between an adult man and a 14 year old girl. Robert Ebert, in its review of the film back in 2006, posed the question, “are there two perverts in the room?” Similar reviews comment on the questionable morals of the film. Are the length’s Hayley goes through to punish Jeff justified? Is there a sexual satisfaction for her? (actual questions asked by audiences) Is it right to torture someone for Pedophilia?
In 2006, these may have been fair questions to ask, but the film is very clear about its answers. In fact, these questions are unsettling, today, projecting sexuality onto a character who’s both a minor and an agent for removing pedophilia.
In 2017, we aren’t questioning Hayley’s actions. We’re rooting for her. Hayley is a vigilante, setting off to get revenge for someone she may not even know. Hayley is a mystery to the viewer. Instead, she is a symbol for her victims.
The crucial moment to this viewing of the film comes with its climax. After hours of torture, Jeff has a character change. He realizes himself and who he is, and accepts it. He insists for the duration of the film that he is good, that he has done no wrong. Only after being tortured and made to believe he lost his “manhood” did he fully come into himself.
Like so many of the men exposed this past year, Jeff only admitted his darker side when backed into a corner. Meanwhile, Hayley’s focus and character is nearly unchanged. She makes jokes, even passing comments of “Jodi Foster will direct the film adaptation” and calling out sexual harassment in Hollywood. She is in full control of her actions and believes them to be justified.
Hard Candy is up front with its its opinions on pedophila. Pedophiles are bad, and only when pushed to the edge will they admit it. Faking the castration is the crux of this. In my opinion, the choice to fake the castration for both Jeff and the audience is cinematic brilliance. It is a choice that shouldn’t beget a question of morals, but rather the extent it takes to reveal men, like Jeff.
Hard Candy is a fantastic movie, and twelve years later, that remains truer than ever. It’s a gore-less revenge/torture porn that makes a verdict against pedophiles. In 2017, it’s a welcome and satisfying watch. A gut punch to the pedophiles of Hollywood.
Throughout the course of the film, Hayley doesn’t once question her actions. So why did we?
