The Voyeurs, the review of the new original Amazon Prime Video film
The Voyeurs
In the world there are billions of people and as many vices and passions. Among these is that of spying on unsuspecting passers-by or neighbors and trying to invent stories about them, very often erotic and intriguing. What happens, though, when you dangerously overdo this pleasure? The Voyeurs, the new film by Michael Mohan and released on Amazon Prime Video, attempts to answer this question with an interesting and engaging narrative backed by a strong cast that gives their best, despite some inconsistent decisions that lead the film. at exaggeratedly angular levels and marked by an eroticism that is not really necessary. Find out more in our review which, as always, will be spoiler-free.The Voyeurs: When spying becomes a disease
Sydney Sweeney and Justice Smith star in this new thriller sassy, at times funny and extremely messed up erotic perfect for both the new generation of fans who find themselves browsing the thick forest of Prime Video streaming content for the first time, and for those who have cut their teeth with thrillers truly wild erotic from the 90s and are looking for something similar even in the modern era. The Voyeurs, in fact, is halfway between Alfred Hitchcock's The Window on the Courtyard and Brian De Palma's Murder in Red Light.Mohan's story begins with the classic forbidden fruit of life in a big city: the willingness to open a window into other people's sex lives. Pippa (Sydney Sweeney) and Thomas (Justice Smith) have just moved into a wonderful apartment in Montreal, and right in front of them is a wonderful couple who make an art of eroticism. During their move, the two protagonists observe all the activities of the other couple and the embarrassment first becomes a source of hilarity and then unbridled curiosity. The couple next door is made up of Seb (Ben Hardy) and Julia (Natasha Liu Bordizzo), a former model who has decided to leave that life of sacrifices and constraints. Hardy is an overly mawkish and overly sexual photographer and it is precisely his photo shoots with other women that bring the neighbors, Pippa and Thomas, to think of some form of betrayal.
At first, peeking into lascivious lives of the photographer and his ex-wife is a fun game for Pippa and Thomas, and even spice up their relationship a bit. But they soon get carried away with their clandestine activities, even sneaking into a Halloween costume party to insert a receiver so they can hear Seb and Julia's conversations. For Thomas, the experience ends up worsening the relationship. Pippa, however, only becomes more engrossed, especially when Julia coincidentally shows up at the place where she works. When the two discover some secrets of the other couple from the fake hot relationship, things begin to take an unexpectedly tragic and hot turn.
A kaleidoscope of soap opera emotions
Already from the brief summary of the plot of The Voyeurs you can understand how the film offers a multifaceted list of feelings, starting with how Sweeney describes curiosity , the seduction of the gaze, the desire to live within the mental projection placed on someone whose sexual life is enhanced by the simple gaze through binoculars. The script is well-paced to such an extent that it also has time to be fun and playful, thanks above all to the discreet boyfriend and less amused by the situation Justice Smith who plays the part of the false and hypocritical voice of conscience. The alchemy generated by the protagonist couple is, however, very sexy when needed and reaches its peak when things fall apart: it is precisely in this case that The Voyeurs struggles to create a powerful emotional core. The viewer, in fact, will tend to genuinely worry about their relationship corroded by their own fixation turned disease.Mohan's film, however, gets lost in some bizarre characterizations and in jokes bordering on the cloying. By pure coincidence, Pippa is an ophthalmologist so, she just happens to have everything you need to spy in the best possible way. Imagine, then, if in an art gallery there could be a lack of exchanges such as: "I didn't think you would come" and "I came." . All seasoned with sharp cuts that serve to dampen the tension, but sometimes also the embarrassment. There are also brief glimpses of Thomas's work as a commercial music composer for TV, but writer and director Michael Mohan shows little of the life of both Thomas and Pippa.
Similarly, apart from a brief conversation after they move in, there's not much that can explain Pippa and Thomas's relationship in more detail, and it's unclear what first brought them together as a couple. In a nutshell, Mohan's aim is only to show eroticism at the highest level, including attractive actors in the cast that the director portrays with excellent use of reverse shots and ad hoc lighting. Of all the scenes, the most memorable is when Julia visits Pippa in the ophthalmologist's office where she works: without a doubt she is the sexiest eye check in the history of cinema.
The first two thirds of The Voyeurs, then, looks like a glossy soap opera that shows a great relationship starting to deteriorate thanks to its growing obsession with neighbors. There is very little thriller at least for its first hour (the film lasts 116 minutes), as Pippa and Thomas observe only small indiscretions and in the end the film turns into an inner crisis that leads Pippa to get lost in her obsession, also imagining to participate in Seb and Julia's most intimate interactions. It is only in this case that the situation becomes more dangerous, but again Pippa makes such impulsive and selfish decisions that viewers may find her as frustrating as Thomas who does not realize the situation.
