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Take My Breath Away: Singin' In The Rain vs. A Family Affair

Two movies about forbidden romance set against the fantastical world of Hollywood — it’s Singin’ In The Rain vs. A Family Affair.

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Every episode of Tasteless, I take a critically acclaimed film and compare it to one that shares the same themes but didn't get the attention it deserves — and explain why that second movie is my pick. This week: two movies about forbidden romance set against the fantastical world of Hollywood. It's Singin' in the Rain versus A Family Affair. Yes, I had another episode on deck. Yes, I changed it when a new Nicole Kidman movie hit Netflix on Friday. Of course I did. I'm a journalist.

Singin’ In The Rain

A silent film star falls for a chorus girl just as he and his delusionally jealous screen partner are trying to make the difficult transition to talking pictures in 1920s Hollywood.

This movie came out in 1952. It has a perfect 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. No one has a bad thing to say about this movie. That's so perfect for this podcast — to compare anything to a movie that has 100%.

Singin' in the Rain was nominated for two Oscars. Best Music Scoring of a Musical Picture for Lennie Hayton, and then one that's a little surprising but I love: Best Supporting Actress for Jean Hagen as Lena Lamont. The film as a whole didn't receive that many nominations, and it makes sense because only a year prior another Gene Kelly movie, An American in Paris, had won Best Picture plus five other Oscars. People were like, all right, we get it. But I don't hear people now talking about An American in Paris the way they do about Singin' in the Rain. For a very unscientific comparison, An American in Paris has been watched by 77,000 people on Letterboxd, while Singin' in the Rain has been watched by 581,000.

I am a fan of cinema who has a massive blind spot for films that are pre-70s outside of horror, and to be fair, probably even pre-90s. I don't tend to go for older films, just like I don't tend to go for animated films as my first choice. That definitely causes me to miss out, but when there are so many movies on the earth, I have to focus somewhere. And yeah, that's mostly 90s psychosexual thrillers.

But there is such a different feeling when watching an older movie like Singin' in the Rain. A lightness, it's just joyful. And then you read about how much Gene Kelly made 19-year-old Debbie Reynolds cry. So things weren't all sunshine and roses. Singin' in the Rain does a good job of presenting this idyllic, funny, dance-filled world that just makes you smile. Biggest disappointment but also the best part: it opens with them singing "Singin' in the Rain" in the rain. Perfection. But then later Gene Kelly just sings it by himself. Come on.

Singin' in the Rain is the epitome of a feel-good musical. My absolute favorite movie musical of all time is Funny Girl, but I can see how Singin' in the Rain is the blueprint for bringing the magic of an art form that's perhaps best enjoyed live — bringing it really brilliantly onto the big screen.

Gene Kelly: an unforgiving taskmaster of a man. Very talented. I never really think talent is worth being a jerk. In this film as Don Lockwood, incredibly charming in a very smarmy way. He's kind of a social climber who does what he needs to look his best. He's a liar when it suits him. He embellishes. He goes big. He looks a bit like Justin Theroux. Very nice voice on this man — not just when he's singing, when he's talking.

For a guy that's this intense and this much of a perfectionist, dancing was not a great choice when you have to do it with other people, because you have to be so in sync. Imagine you're the best in the world, you're Gene Kelly, and this nice 19-year-old Debbie Reynolds misses a step. You're ready to have an aneurysm. But she had no real dance training when she took this job, and she is up there next to Gene Kelly fully holding her own.

I liked when the police made him stop having fun. He's out dancing around in puddles and the police just come. This policeman is just looking at him. He's like, I guess I have to stop dancing in the puddles. I don't think that's illegal. Was it illegal back then? You weren't allowed to play in the rain?

The best thing about Gene Kelly's character might be that he is a loyal friend to a fault. He lets his best friend Cosmo, played by Donald O'Connor, hang around all the time. Date with Debbie Reynolds? Cosmo's there. Conversation with his boss? Cosmo's there. And here is my problem with this movie. I am being so serious right now. Shenanigans. Tomfoolery. Lot of both between these two guys. Real goofy guys over here. I don't like it. I don't like yucks. I don't like shenanigans.

Donald O'Connor's "Make 'Em Laugh" song — incredible. He runs up a wall and does a flip. The talent on this guy. But here's what I know about me. Song in this movie called "Gotta Dance." I don't got a dance and I don't understand why other people do. But I do love watching it. I just wouldn't hang out with these men.

This whole movie is a jukebox musical trying to use songs that already existed, weaving them in. And "Make 'Em Laugh" — they created it to use up all of the gags Donald had from his vaudeville days. All these little things he did to make people laugh at previous gigs, combined into one song. This guy was a heavy smoker, had to flip off a wall, was keeled over, had to do it again. The problem with being so talented at something is that you can make it look easy and people don't understand just how much effort went into it.

Debbie Reynolds is a star. A star. I first loved her in Halloweentown. She was such a cool grandma. She just always struck me as very clever, very self-aware, very perceptive. She's so enjoyable to watch on screen. The fact that she didn't dance professionally before Singin' in the Rain and held her own with Gene Kelly is insane. Gene was hard on her — she's crying, Fred Astaire finds her under the stairs, checking on her. Yeah, Gene Kelly, fun guy.

She's so charismatic. She just has it. These classic movie stars — there were less stars. Somebody couldn't just have a TikTok. And I think Debbie could succeed just as easily today because of that true connection you feel through the screen. She has had a tumultuous private life but it has always been very clear she loved her family to the ends of the earth. The way her granddaughter Billie Lourd talks about her is always very touching. She's just one of those people we all felt like we knew — her and her daughter Carrie Fisher.

Jean Hagen as Lena Lamont is a really great foil. She's nasty, she's dumb, she's absurd, totally commits, not a winking role at all. Just an annoying person who is used to getting what she wants and utilizes what's available to get her way. And I can't fault her for that — for clinging onto the empire she's been building with Gene Kelly. As much as I wanted Debbie's dreams to come true, Jean is just so awesome to watch.

Also, it is very cool and funny that Debbie at one point comes in to dub Jean so it's her voice instead of Jean's grating voice. But it's actually Jean dubbing Debbie dubbing Jean. You get that? Jean is doing her real voice pretending to be Debbie pretending to replace Lena Lamont's voice, who is Jean doing a high-pitched voice. Jean dubbing Debbie dubbing Jean.

Jean Hagen, backbone of this film to me, keeps it from being too saccharine. I wanted good things for Lena Lamont the same way I want good things for the villains on Housewives or for Jennifer Lopez. I want to keep watching them be wild.

A Family Affair

A surprising romance kicks off comic consequences for a young woman, her mother, and her movie-star boss as they face the complications of love, sex, and identity.

This movie came out in 2024. It has a 42% on Rotten Tomatoes. I obviously was seated on Friday when it came out. Got off work. Put it on. The Nicole Kidman and Zac Efron reunion we've been waiting on since The Paperboy. I was ready for some cheesy fun and it fully delivered while also having really engaging performances from a fantastic cast.

I think this film will in its time be enjoyed for what it is — a light romp where everyone seems to be having a great time filming it. Much like Singin' in the Rain, which was overshadowed by An American in Paris at the time, A Family Affair is kind of overshadowed right now by The Idea of You, but has its own merits.

IndieWire shared a very funny interview where Zac Efron and Nicole Kidman said they signed on for the original title — it was called something much cruder. Nicole shared that somehow that didn't make it onto the Netflix title. They both were like, let's do it. What better way to reconnect. Let Nicole Kidman have fun. She is queen of prestige television. One of the all-time greatest actresses who can really make any role work because of what she brings to the table. But in this movie she gets to be light. Yes, her character has past trauma, but it is in no way the focus and it doesn't hold her back from going for what she wants.

I love that she kind of tells her kid to kick rocks. Like, hey kid, let me be happy. I want to make out with Zac Efron. I'm going to sleep with your boss. I would be furious if that was my mom. And while Nicole is a great mom in this, she also isn't catering unnecessarily to her adult daughter. Their relationship is realistically tense with fights that felt akin to fights I've had with my mom. It isn't loaded down with anguish. It taps into real emotions but keeps things a bit more surface level in a way I appreciated.

Nicole Kidman never really had that rom-com phase in her career, which is sort of shocking. The closest roles that come to mind are maybe Just Go With It where she's the villain but super goofy, or Bewitched where she's bubbly. But rarely does she play totally carefree. This is total cotton candy, which is what you want sometimes. Also, this movie lets her be Australian. Thank you, A Family Affair.

Joey King is perfect. Her character is frustrating, selfish in the way anyone in their early-to-mid twenties is. I see myself in elements of her in a way I wish I didn't. She has real emotions that I understand even while I can rationally understand they're not her mom's fault, not her boss's fault. They have to do with her own feelings about her worth, about what she's supposed to do with her life. I liked that Joey was selfish but still really kind. She's never nasty, just not thinking of other people the way she should be.

Zac Efron, always delightful. He is a song and dance man who could have been in Singin' in the Rain. He actually shared with the Letterboxd journalist at the premiere that Singin' in the Rain is one of his favorite movies. He has such charm. The fact that he improvised the "Bet On It" golf course dance in High School Musical 2 is incredible. He has allowed his career to mature with him in a way that's really hard to do.

I like that we dealt with the internal elements of his character's fame. The lengths he goes to not be stopped by fans — he has secret spots where no one can see him. He's wistful over getting to go to the grocery store when he was younger. We don't get that cliché paparazzi moment. We see him when he's most comfortable, away from all of that.

Their courtship is fast — they're all over each other drinking tequila within an afternoon. But is that so crazy when you're two hotties? When he's trying to come up with something to talk to this hot Australian woman about, he goes, do you know Margot Robbie? She's like, no. And he goes, I do. He's silly in a way I enjoy — not a shenanigans way, like Cosmo in Singin' in the Rain.

Kathy Bates as Nicole's mother-in-law — perfect. She mourns the loss of her son but is in no way controlling of Nicole's life. She's excited that Nicole sees something in Zac that creates a spark. There's this wonderful non-judgmental maternal energy.

Sherry Cola is a revelation. Liza Koshy at one point makes up a fake name and calls herself Mia Thermopoulos. I love that. And her Letterboxd top four — The Room, Cats, Madame Web, and Triangle of Sadness — I'm officially a fan.

Shared Themes

Singin' in the Rain and A Family Affair have couples that like each other, have chemistry, have so much fun together — but who have to keep their romance secret to stay out of sight of the haters. Lena Lamont and Joey King: the ultimate haters in film.

In Singin' in the Rain, what Gene Kelly builds with Debbie Reynolds is this textbook love-hate, fun, classic-for-a-reason dynamic. They're in such a high-stakes world, but once they're together, none of that matters. They meet when Gene catapults himself into Debbie's car. They argue. They meet again when Debbie jumps out of a cake. Crazy sequence of events. Plus the blonde hottie who thinks Gene is her boyfriend is ready to upend their lives. Gives them an us-against-the-world feeling. Well, us and Cosmo against the world.

That bond that they are creating art together, trying to build something better — it's so strong. Rita Moreno as Zelda, small role, nice to see her, rats them out to Lena Lamont. What I love is that instead of Gene going, no, you misunderstood, he's like, yeah, I adore Debbie Reynolds. Look at her. Look at the tiny hats she wears. No one is ashamed. The fun is the sneaking around, but the romance is in declaring for the world to hear that they love each other.

A Family Affair has the often-discussed age-gap romance, but with the woman as the older party — always a nice twist. I think the power imbalance is played well because of Zac being famous. Even though he's younger, he's had certain things available to him and grown up faster in some ways, although he's really stunted in others. He's also a full adult man. He's 36.

They set up that Nicole is well-read and he has a lot to learn, but he's curious. That goes really far. He doesn't need to know everything, but he wants to learn. I love that he reads the mythology books she gives him. They make each other laugh. They're not intellectual equals, but they're good for each other. Zac has some growing up to do — he needs to take other people seriously, think outside himself. Being with Nicole forces him to see Joey as a human, not just his assistant. Shouldn't he need to have sex with Nicole Kidman to treat his employee as a human? Probably not. But you see what they get from each other.

What's so fun about these films is their use of the fantastic, their use of Hollywood and its trappings to tell stories in a larger-than-life way. Both Gene Kelly and Zac Efron take the woman they like to a fake set and show them the magic of what film creates — imagination, possibilities. Gene telling Debbie she looks lovely in the moonlight, perhaps more suave than anything Zac says on a fake New York set. But this moment of the fake, the movie set, being the only place these people can share their true emotions — it's perfect storytelling.

Singin' in the Rain leans into the Technicolor, the fun. Gene Kelly dancing in the rain is fantastic. These sets are built to create imagery that sticks with you. Debbie has been struggling as a background cake dancer, meets the hot actor she likes, and now is his girlfriend and is going to get a movie role. What a dream. This fantasy only works when everyone feels like they belong in it — that Debbie meets Gene on his level and impresses him. It's such wish fulfillment in the best way.

A Family Affair is certainly not a big production — there's no smoke and mirrors — but there is this Hollywood dream on offer. A life that Zac doesn't appreciate, that Joey longs for. There's a modern version of Hollywood that's equally entrancing. We think of celebrities as having it all. Zac has a beautiful house, someone catering to his every whim, but it doesn't make him happy. His fantasy is normalcy — and to an extent, solitude. Choosing things for himself. We see it when he takes Nicole to the empty New York set. Joey calls him out for doing what he does with all women, and it makes sense when he shares he doesn't know where else to go for privacy.

The plot of this movie would never happen in real life. It just wouldn't. But isn't it fun to watch? I love this kind of fantasy, just grounded enough that it's like, hmm, a movie star could fall in love with me while I'm at home wearing my Blondie shirt and organizing my books.

What A Family Affair Does Better

A movie made in the ‘50s versus a movie made in the 2020s is of course going to be different. I am not faulting Singin' in the Rain for having ‘50s sensibilities about women at all. But I think the lighter the movie, the less seriously it tends to take identity. These are two fluffy, fun, silly movies. While Singin' in the Rain has an unsurprising thread of rudeness towards its leading ladies, I was really pleasantly surprised by the agency that A Family Affair gave to Joey and especially to Nicole.

Singin' in the Rain is Gene Kelly's story. That is fine — men can have movies. Great. But man, it's boring that Debbie is like, at first has her own stuff, and is like, okay, whatever you want, Gene, I actually secretly am president of your fan club and I'm happy to help you save your trash movie and not get credit. Come on, Debbie, get in there. Dance fight this man, Sharks versus Jets style.

Jean Hagen as Lena Lamont is by far the most fun character to watch. I don't think she was meant to be. She feels ahead of her time in this villainous, fun role where she's doing things women shouldn't — speaking up for herself, basically. When the movie starts, Gene Kelly does all the talking for her because of her awful voice. As far as she knows, she's just not allowed to talk because Gene has been nominated to speak for both of them. And that sucks.

Knowing that Gene made Debbie cry makes it less fun to watch them fall on the couch giggling together, knowing that was probably the 40th time they fell on the couch and everyone's feet are bleeding and they're sobbing when it's done. None of this takes away from this movie being a must-watch. But that's what makes A Family Affair, which you'd think would follow certain stereotypes, especially surprising and enjoyable.

A Family Affair does not fall into the traps and tropes of a typical romance. We see so many movies where people feel guilt over moving on or women beat themselves up for putting themselves first. How dare a woman do what she wants and not sacrifice. Nicole makes no apologies for her successes. She even acknowledges how her husband felt less-than because he didn't do as well, but she doesn't dim her own light. When her daughter's upset, she acknowledges that, but doesn't bend to her. When her daughter confronts her, she apologizes for hurting her but makes it clear she will not sacrifice her personhood so her daughter can feel good.

Nicole Kidman is 57. How many stories are there for 57-year-old women where they're hot and hooking up with the young hottie and it's not played for laughs? It's not played for laughs at all. Of course these two are together. This is just her life. Even saying "older women" about Nicole Kidman feels disrespectful somehow. She's not 90. But when Hollywood likes you to be 21, there aren't that many roles.

I also find it really interesting how we tend to malign things that aren't deep, and it feels like we've gotten worse about that. When Singin' in the Rain came out, people enjoyed it, it was nominated for Oscars, but it's a fluffy fun movie. A Family Affair is the same. And it's disappointing to see so many reviews saying, watch this with a glass of wine or three. Okay, great. Yeah, you've sold me. I want a movie I can watch with friends, have a drink, giggle, not argue over whatever Tenet is about.

We look back on older films as more than they maybe were at the time because anything that has survived decades, been shared by relatives, gives the film an air of importance. It's hard to make a movie now when there are so many movies. You can watch a million different things this weekend. There's this feeling now that you have to watch something important, something meaningful, something in the zeitgeist. I think the best example of this change is The Bear, which won Best Comedy — should not have been in that category.

I think A Family Affair is out at the exact perfect time for me, and I have so much respect for the people who made something that seems so rare now: just fun. Anyone But You recently was lauded for similar reasons — chemistry on film again. I want these options. I don't want it to be either superheroes or Schindler's List. A Family Affair does exactly what I wanted it to do, and it does it well. I worry we're not getting these movies anymore — 27 Dresses, Morning Glory, One for the Money. I love this genre of lighthearted fun centered on a female protagonist who's figuring her stuff out.

If you want to pour yourself a glass of wine, go nuts. Put on A Family Affair. Watch these two movies together — you will have a lovely time. It's a great double feature. A Family Affair is on Netflix. Singin' in the Rain is on Max.

Hit me up at @tastelesspod on social media. Let's talk Nicole Kidman. Let's talk Debbie Reynolds. Let's talk fun movies.

Dark Horse: Labyrinth vs Gunpowder Milkshake

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Iliza Shlesinger | Strong Female Leads

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Iliza Shlesinger (Good On Paper, Unveiled, Spenser Confidential) is a keen-eyed observer of life, and she beautifully showcases her worldview in her new hit film, Good On Paper. We chat about where the character of Andrea diverges from Iliza herself, how close she is to becoming a cult leader, and why her story has connected with so many people.

Watch Good On Paper on Netflix | See Iliza’s stand-up live in a city near you | Follow Iliza on Instagram | Listen to her podcast, Ask Iliza Anything

Anna Elizabeth James | Strong Female Leads

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Anna Elizabeth James (writer/director of Deadly Illusions) has revived the psychosexual thriller genre with Deadly Illusions clocking in at #1 on Netflix and she GRACEd me with her presence on the show! Our conversation covered everything I've ever cared about, including how she crafted a thriller with heart, the absolutism of movie critics, and obviously, the milk bath. Deadly Illusions is a FEELING, as is this episode.

Deadly Illusions is coming to all platforms June 1st, including my beloved physical media, but you can watch now on Netflix!

Follow Anna on Instagram | Follow Anna on Twitter | Follow Deadly Illusions on Instagram | Follow Deadly Illusions on Twitter

Heart's Desire: Black Swan vs Deadly Illusions

Black Swan vs Deadly Illusions

Two movies about a woman in a high pressure environment who is unsure of what is real and what is not, and must come to terms with her desires — it's Black Swan vs Deadly Illusions.

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Every episode of Tasteless, I take a critically acclaimed film and compare it to one that shares the same themes but didn't get the attention it deserves — and explain why that second movie is my pick. This week: two women in high-pressure environments who are unsure of what is real and what is not and must come to terms with their desires. It's Black Swan versus Deadly Illusions.

Black Swan

Nina is a talented but unstable ballerina on the verge of stardom. Pushed to the breaking point by her artistic director and a seductive rival, Nina's grip on reality slips, plunging her into a waking nightmare.

This movie came out in 2010, has an 85% on Rotten Tomatoes. Natalie Portman won the Oscar for Best Actress. The film was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Directing, Best Cinematography, and Best Film Editing.

These were the Oscars where everyone turned on Anne Hathaway as she tried to save the sinking ship that was getting anything useful out of James Franco. How dare we turn on her. The Social Network beat Black Swan for Film Editing. Are you kidding me? Inception got Cinematography — fine, whatever, because buildings are caving in, but Black Swan was better. Directing and Picture were given to The King's Speech, which I didn't see, but I bet it was about a turd. I will not be looking further into it. Please do not inform me.

Black Swan deserves all the awards and recognition for being a truly compelling look at a woman forced to both repress and expose herself in equal turn for the acceptance of those around her. Natalie Portman does an amazing job. I love this movie. I saw it in theaters, I think twice, and it's stuck with me. I am offended that it only has an 85% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Natalie trained for a year as a dancer to prepare for the role, paid for the training out of her own pocket until the film found investors. Darren Aronofsky attributed the film getting made at all to Portman's dedication and enthusiasm. I think you can tell when an actor has a true passion for a role, and that carries through here. Out of all the awards nominations the film received, Natalie Portman won every single Best Actress category — Oscars, Golden Globes, every single one she was nominated for, she won.

Her performance is one of the most incredible I've seen — the way she goes within herself, the vulnerability, the sadness. To contrast that with the woman who sang one of my favorite songs, the Natalie Rap. She has range. She's brilliant.

Natalie as Nina is desperate for the approval of Tomah — as she says, Tomah, spelled Thomas — played by Vincent Cassel. He heads up the ballet troupe and assigns the roles. While Natalie is a talented dancer, he believes she doesn't have the darkness or sensuality to play the Black Swan and therefore cannot play the multifaceted Swan Queen in their upcoming Swan Lake. She struggles to open herself up and be less regimented, and this isn't helped by Tomah's sexually aggressive nature. She has complicated feelings for him — a schoolgirl crush she refuses to acknowledge when pressed about it by Mila Kunis.

Mila Kunis is perfection in this film as well. There is an easiness to Mila as Lily that is something I absolutely covet. She was so perfect for this role. To get the viewer into the space Natalie inhabits — the envy, the interest. Mila is the kind of person where you just want to be in her orbit.

Although it is fully psycho when she goes into the bathroom Natalie is in, goes to pee, takes off her underwear and hands it to Natalie to hold. I would be distraught if that happened to me. But then when Mila goes to Natalie's house later to apologize — because she had really pushed Natalie's boundaries, talked to Tomah about her — I loved that. She recognizes that even though Natalie is really intense and not nice to her, she still hurt her and tries to make up for it.

She goes to her apartment, invites her out. Natalie takes her up on it. While they're out at a bar, Mila offers her drugs. And I too would take a strange pill for Mila Kunis. I think any one of us would. This is the only fun girls' night out Natalie has had maybe ever. So in her mind it becomes more than it is. She has the hallucination of going home and having sex with Mila Kunis.

Even the response when she finds out it was not real — she goes to Mila and is like, okay, last night can never happen again. And Mila's like, what happened last night? I went home with a dude. Oh my God, did you have a dream about me? And she's not even really mean about it. She's just kind of like, was I good? There's such an acceptance with her — she's not judgmental, she's just open. And it's this ease that Natalie can never achieve.

A lot of that is due to the way she was raised. Barbara Hershey plays Natalie's overbearing mom, and she's so frightening. Perhaps the scariest part of the film, besides the skin strip Natalie peels off her finger, which I still cannot look at no matter how many times I see the movie. There's a theory that the mother was possibly molesting her, and even if we don't take that as fact, the control her mother exerts is sickening. It's very Carrie — this perverted, twisted idea of love being used as a weapon to keep Natalie in line.

Although she wants her daughter to be a success, she encourages and allows for this odd regression. Constantly calling the receptionist at the theater to find out Natalie's whereabouts. And when Natalie gets the Swan Queen role, she says to her mom, he picked me, mommy, and it just makes my skin crawl. Then her mom gets this full sheet cake and Natalie's like, I'm trying to be ballerina-body, I can't eat a sheet cake. And Barbara Hershey goes to throw it away. And then it's like, no, I'm sorry, I didn't — I'm just so proud. It's this constant push of control.

This relationship is so stressful, so tense. Uncut Gems who? This is tension. You see why Natalie is living so much of her life internally and why her view of the world becomes distorted when this is how she was raised — to never feel safe, to always wonder when the other shoe was going to drop.

I was also thrilled to see Winona Ryder as a ballerina at the company who has passed the age where people want to see her perform. She's put out to pasture and accuses Natalie of sleeping with Tomah to take her job. Ksenia Solo, aka Kenzi from Lost Girl, appears as another ballerina. Sebastian Stan is one of the guys Natalie and Mila meet at the bar. I had totally forgotten that.

Here's one problem with this movie: Darren Aronofsky. I am not denying he's a genius in some of the ways we consider people geniuses. But a little piece of trivia from IMDB: Natalie Portman revealed that Aronofsky would subtly try to pit her and Mila Kunis against each other during filming, in an attempt to increase the on-screen tension. This included keeping the two actresses separated and sending each of them intimidating text messages about each other's performance that day. However, according to Kunis, this backfired because they were good friends before filming. Whenever they got wind the other was doing really well, they would respond in congratulatory support, not rivalry.

It's a job, Darren Aronofsky. Don't play mind games. These are excellent actors who can do the job without some nonsense you're trying to put in their head.

Also, IMDB has director trademarks. One for this movie was the film Perfect Blue — an overhead shot of Nina in the bathtub is an exact replica of a shot in the Japanese anime thriller. Years before, when making Requiem for a Dream, Aronofsky bought the remake rights to Perfect Blue just to use that one sequence. Black Swan itself contains numerous similarities to Perfect Blue, though Aronofsky has denied it was an influence. You already bought this movie to use in something else and now you're like, no, that movie has nothing to do with my work. Come on, dude.

Although the film was never marketed as such, Aronofsky has always maintained it was meant to be a psychological horror film. I would say yes — this is the kind of thriller that made me appreciate the genre and realize it can be layered and meaningful and truly frightening. Black Swan is one of my all-time favorite films.

Deadly Illusions

After a bestselling novelist suffering from writer's block hires a new nanny for her children, the line between fiction and reality starts to blur.

This came out in 2021, has a 13% on Rotten Tomatoes — but only eight official critics have reviewed it, so I don't think that's quite fair.

This is one of the timelier episodes of Tasteless. Deadly Illusions dropped last weekend as of this recording and Sam Hurley of Movie Reviews in 20Qs told me it existed and that it looked up my alley. I immediately pulled it up on IMDB and said, yes, it is. And yes, it was. What a film.

I have spoken before about this genre of thriller. Saying "erotic thriller" does always make me feel like a serial killer, but I don't know what else to call it. I would argue Black Swan could fall into the category as well. This was a type of thriller more prevalent in the eighties and nineties that peaked with Basic Instinct and had a late-nineties resurgence with ones aimed at a younger crowd — Cruel Intentions, Wild Things. It's this type of twisty thriller where there's a mystery and the best ones have women using their sexuality to get what they want — instead of it being something they're subjected to, they turn it on the oppressors.

Netflix has been circling this, wanting to bring back the fun twisty surprising psychological thriller with a little sex thrown in, and this is a perfect example.

As our star we have Kristin Davis. Charlotte was always my favorite on Sex and the City. Kristin Davis has shown again and again what a delight she is — between her very funny and supportive engagement with the Every Outfit on Sex and the City Instagram, which has this meme called Woke Charlotte where they correct problematic quotes from the show. Also, Kristin Davis is a big supporter of animals. She has dedicated herself to helping elephants through the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. I just love her.

In this movie she is my favorite kind of character: an author who wrote a bestselling series of sexy thriller novels, but has basically retired from that to be with her family because she feels writing those books have been some of the unhappiest times of her life. Unfortunately her husband Dermot Mulroney does some bad business, so she has to take an offer to write another book in the series to get them some money. And she switches to full writer mode. The cigars, the robes, the cozy sweaters.

Kristin Davis's whole vibe in this movie is so cool. At one point she has her boots up on her writing desk smoking her giant cigar and I could just watch that for eight hours like a video of a Yule log. I have a Reddit thread bookmarked right now to find out where one of her sweaters is from — someone on a knitting subreddit was like, does anyone have the pattern for the sweater? Someone replied, I have this exact sweater. Three people have replied asking where they bought it. This person has not replied. It's been seven days. Please come back, Reddit user, and tell us where you bought the sweater.

Let's talk Dermot Mulroney. Hunk from My Best Friend's Wedding gets his full butt out in this movie. I like parity in my actor nudity — I want a lady butt, I want a man butt. Have it all in there. His relationship with Kristin is overall very refreshing. She says to him, what do you think about women who get plastic surgery? He goes, like fake boobs? And he kind of looks like, no, I don't want you to get fake boobs. She goes, maybe something else? He says, like a fake butt? And he mulls it over. They're kind of laughing. And he says, the hottest thing about you is you're brilliant and you're a wonderful mom to our kids.

Other than Dermot's betrayal with finances, this couple clearly likes each other and is into each other. They are going at it for half the movie. He is so attracted to her. They have such love for each other, such chemistry. It's not the usual — the wife is so busy, she doesn't pay enough attention, or the husband is stepping out with his secretary. No, they're equal partners.

In comes the nanny, with one big braid and different-colored bows and a beach cruiser bike and a lot of white-sock, white-sneaker combos. It is Greer Grammer. She seems like the perfect nanny — she loves reading and kids, is trying to make money for college, immediately has palpable sexual tension with Kristin Davis. All things that are great in an employee.

Greer spoon-feeds Kristin about 18 different foods and I love every moment of it. Honey, chili — yes, there's some sexy chili spoon-feeding. Who doesn't want that? And Greer plays Grace and she just feels so at home with this family. Kristin Davis is a great employer — she buys her bras, she hangs out with her. It seems like a really nice time at that house.

There's something about her that intrigues Kristin. We see Kristin talking to her friend, played by Shanola Hampton of Shameless — who is also a producer on this movie, which I have a lot of questions about. The only flaw in this movie is that there was not more of her. Kristin plays the role of slightly lascivious employer with such gusto. She straight up tells Shanola what's up. She doesn't hide it. She's like, I am very into my nanny. There isn't any shame surrounding it. Shanola asks, are you even into girls? Kristin goes, no, I just like that she'll do whatever I want. And Shanola is like, okay, well, keep working on your book.

So many of these types of thrillers rely on the husband and wife hating each other and lying to each other. That's not what happens here. Obviously Kristin doesn't tell her husband she's very attracted to the nanny, but she's also not secretive. I mean, yeah, they stop making out when the kids come in, but that's just being polite.

There are about 18 twists in this movie, some of which we will get into. But really you just need to watch it — it's on Netflix. And all you nitpickers who are like, what's the timeline of this movie? — shut your faces! If you want a timeline so bad, watch Memento, you turds.

This movie has one of the best visual gags I've seen in ages. There's an incident I'm not going to spoil, but you see Kristin look at the cover of what is very clearly a People magazine — same font and everything — but instead of People it says Persons, in the People font. I was really delighted by that.

Shared Themes

These films explore reality and our perception of it — how fantasy and nightmare can become more tangible and sometimes more desirable than the real world. Natalie and Kristin feel they can't trust their own memory of what has happened, because the world around them has a different view of it altogether.

Natalie in Black Swan is so overwhelmed by her drive to be the best. She is already an anxious person, so to be in a field where that's the crux of it, where there is such competition and it's so cutthroat — it's not good for her. It's not a supportive environment; it's one of pain and pushing yourself to the limit. Natalie's greatest enemy and roadblock is herself. She puts so much pressure on herself that every comment from someone else is a shot to her heart.

She sees her face plastered onto people passing her. She fights a vision of herself. She stabs herself with some glass. She's in a constant war with who she is, but projects it onto her battle with Mila Kunis — thinking this other dancer is her enemy instead of her own insecurities. Natalie is so fragile that each vision of betrayal, of being wronged, of death and destruction, pushes her closer to the edge. She doesn't know what is real and is constantly frightened, unsure of other people's motives. She sees feathers growing in on her back and tries desperately to pluck them out. She sees entire strips of her skin being torn away.

In Deadly Illusions, Kristin becomes lost in the world of her book. She writes tantalizing stories with twists and seduction and killers, and she finds herself living inside one when her nanny is a little too eager to please. She has visions of her husband and the nanny having sex on the kitchen counter, but then both deny it and Kristin is made to feel insane. She even accuses Shanola of having an eye on her husband. Shanola's like, we will talk later, you're being ridiculous because I danced with your weird husband.

Fantasy can be a place of escape and comfort as much as it can be intrusive and frightening. Natalie and Kristin experience both sides. Natalie finally finds release when she fantasizes about bringing Mila home — Mila represents a form of freedom and easiness that Natalie covets but can never quite achieve. Through Kristin's fantasies, she can take the weight of the world off her shoulders. She's adored and doted on by the young nanny who takes care of her as well as the children.

Black Swan and Deadly Illusions explore desire and sexuality in a way that is female-focused without centering their experience on gaining a man's approval. There's freedom and escape within these sexual relationships for each woman.

In Black Swan, Natalie is very closed off — in a state of arrested development, still living with her mom, focusing only on work and being the best. There's no easiness to her. It's why Tomah doesn't believe she can embody the Black Swan, but only the more virginal White Swan. It's clear Tomah has no problem wielding sexuality as a weapon — aggressively kissing Natalie, being thrilled by her biting him. He tells Natalie to go home and touch herself and she takes this assignment seriously, even though it's very inappropriate from her employer. But because she continues to be so afraid of being out of control, she can't turn off her brain. And when she finally does, her mom is there, just sleeping in the corner of her room. She doesn't have a lock on her door — she has a wooden dowel to keep her mom out.

It's not until her night out with Mila — drinking and doing drugs and having fun and not worrying about her career — that within her fantasy of sex with Mila, she's able to let go. She fights her mom, stands up for herself, takes what she wants.

There's an IMDB trivia fact I want to talk about here. An online rumor broke out shortly after the film's release claiming Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis took shots of tequila before shooting their sex scene and were drunk on screen. Kunis denied this, saying, I don't think we could have done that scene if we were intoxicated. There's something interesting and immensely frustrating here because we hear it a lot. When women have to kiss or have sex scenes, some rumor always comes out that they got drunk. We don't think that about man-on-woman sex scenes. There's something we see as other when it's two people of the same sex versus a heterosexual love scene.

Natalie wants the approval of Tomah, yes, but she wants to be Mila. She wants to feel that freedom. And that's the kind of person she can open herself up to.

In Deadly Illusions, Kristin Davis and Dermot Mulroney have so much chemistry. So Kristin can't figure out why she is so drawn to her nanny. But she comments a couple different times how intoxicating it is that she feels the nanny would clearly do anything for her.

In a life where she's so out of control in some ways — where her husband has lost their savings without her knowledge, where her book publishers constantly push for her to write what they want instead of what she feels is correct — in this relationship with the nanny, she has control. She's in charge. That power is potent and hard to ignore. With her husband, Kristin is taking care of him. With the nanny, she is being taken care of.

The nanny at one point — Kristin's in the bath — brings in rose petals and pours milk in the bath. Which I guess is okay? It seems bad. Maybe it's cream. Is that better or worse than milk? Are those the same thing? Either way, the dynamic is not something she has experienced as this high-profile author, as a mother to twins, as someone constantly holding things together. She hasn't just had someone dote on her like this.

Dermot has encouraged her to get help, to hire a nanny. He doesn't think any less of her for wanting that help as she focuses on work. But there is something so different and so important for Kristin in the nanny saying to her, let me make you happy. All I want to do is make you happy. There's no obligation there. Nothing is expected of her. Kristin and Dermot are such equal partners in so many ways, but a lot of the labor of fixing things falls on Kristin. So there's such a different type of freedom with the nanny.

Later in the kitchen when Kristin is trying to talk about her tenth anniversary with Dermot, the nanny is all up on her trying to get a piece of her — you deserve this. Kristin can just take and take without giving anything back. There's no emotional labor. She took her bra shopping and just got one little grope in and the nanny just went about business as usual. This nanny has made it so easy, has just offered herself up to Kristin. Whereas in her relationship with Dermot, Kristin feels like she has to pick up the pieces when he crashes and burns their life — and this is not the first time he has done this.

Neither relationship in both films is necessarily a measure of attraction. Yes, obviously Mila Kunis and Greer Grammer are good-looking. But it's more what they represent. In Black Swan, Mila is easy, carefree, confident, without guile. She doesn't play the same games. She takes what she wants. In Deadly Illusions, Greer is simple, innocent, pliable, and she looks at Kristin with such adoration.

We also see the other side — we see Greer with Dermot where she is aggressive, she bosses him around, because he doesn't get that from Kristin. She brings whatever the other person needs. One of the most strangely intimate moments is when Kristin takes off her bathing suit to hop in the pool and then gestures for the nanny to put it on. Which she does. The nanny puts on someone else's wet bathing suit, which — okay. But Kristin sees herself in the nanny. You see this when she picks out the bras and talks about youth being wasted on the young, wishing she had more confidence in her body when she was Greer's age. And in Black Swan, Natalie Portman sees her own face on Mila Kunis while they're having sex. They are both working through their relationship to themselves in a way that would not be possible with a man.

What Deadly Illusions Does Better

Natalie in Black Swan is a very specific character — someone so stilted in so many ways that despite her immense talents, it's as though all her regular social and emotional IQ have been converted to regimented physicality, not even general comfort in her body. Whereas Kristin in Deadly Illusions is more balanced — an adult struggling with the weight placed on her shoulders as a mother, a wife, the breadwinner. Natalie never truly grows into a full-fledged person, while Kristin has no choice but to explore who she can be in relation to what has happened to her.

In Black Swan, Natalie is not living a regular life. She's raised by an overbearing mother who infantilizes her even as she berates her, making Natalie unable to take care of herself and yet mocking her for that same inability. Each time Natalie starts to break out of the shell — going out with Mila, drinking, staying up late — this step forward is met with two steps back. She's apologetic the next morning, distraught over what she believes has happened.

There's a catharsis in Natalie's death at the end — the acknowledgment that the person she stabbed is in fact herself. She dies in this truly perfect moment. But there's no moving forward for Natalie. There's no true experienced growth. She isn't able to integrate the two sides of herself. Instead, as she starts to achieve that integration, that is how she dies. She cannot live with both sides of herself.

In Deadly Illusions, Kristin makes her choices and stands by them. She's not regretful, simply confused over the turn things take when she discovers Greer's true face. I appreciate that she stays in the nanny's life at the end — because obviously things go down with the nanny. It's called Deadly Illusions. In the promo pictures, the nanny is seductively whispering in her ear. Obviously bad stuff goes down. But despite what the nanny does to her family, she feels a connection and a fondness for this girl who has been treated with such cruelty by her own parental figures.

Kristin doesn't feel shame. She simply adjusts her perspective when presented with the rest of the facts about who this woman is. She doesn't begrudge Dermot for being seduced by the nanny as well — she was too. And despite the ambiguous ending, I do believe Kristin has achieved some sort of happiness and growth. We see she has finished her book, a woman at the office is reading it intently, and Kristin has channeled what has happened to her into that work of art for others to enjoy. Instead of penning the last pages and falling to her swan-like death, she sets to work supporting the people in her life and providing forgiveness to the young girl whose actions were not quite her own.

Forgiveness is something Natalie never is able to give herself. She acknowledges the two sides of who she is, but I don't think she ever fully loves and accepts the pieces of herself that have kept her safe amidst her mental turmoil. Kristin's forgiveness of Greer — as well as of herself — was a really interesting element that allowed the characters to not be black and white.

Natalie ends Black Swan proud of her accomplishment — performing the Black Swan serves as a culmination of her work. All the time she put into this, the way she ruined her body and her mind. There's this continued thing in movies where people can't have balance. Liz Lemon's whole bit on 30 Rock about wanting women to be able to have it all, but they can't. I get that it takes 10,000 hours to become a master of something, and it's admirable to have such dedication. But it's also inhuman. We see Natalie as this otherworldly waif — this ballerina lacking humanity in a lot of ways, all the most timid, scared pieces. Every aspect of her life is so controlled that I don't ever feel I know who she is. Is she anyone? Is she just this combination of skill and fear?

In Deadly Illusions, Kristin becomes involved in writing again because of necessity. She has to support her family, they need money. She's an incredible writer whose books have done very well and clearly gotten her this nice house with a lot of very nice outdoor spaces. But I like seeing someone whose interest isn't at the expense of everything else. You can be passionate about something, skilled at something, while balancing other things. Yeah, she's writing her book by hand with a fountain pen onto various sheets of paper, and someone's going to have to type that up later. But she's not worried about it. She's going to write some pages and then go lay by the pool topless. She's got a life to lead.

So many movies about being the best are just — this is it, this is all you can do. Black Swan, Whiplash, I, Tonya. These people have no life skills and are weirdos because all they can do is this one thing. I like the way Kristin's skill — this way she's able to tap into a book — is also her downfall in that she dives too deep, becomes too involved, and it changes how she reacts to things as she gets sucked into the book. But she can turn that off. She chooses to dive back into this darkness for the good of her family. There's something about that choice I find really satisfying — especially because she lives with the results and doesn't shame herself for what has happened.

I hope you will watch Deadly Illusions on Netflix so we can talk about it. Hit me up at @tastelesspod. Tell me which of Kristin Davis's sweater-plus-cigar combos was your favorite. If you know where any of those sweaters are from and can tell me before the people on Reddit, please do.