David forces himself on Melanie when she resists, and preys on her vulnerability. Though Melanie is a willing (if reluctant) participant in their affair, David’s treatment of her feels wrong, and is at times brutal. One of his students, a pretty mixed-race girl called Melanie, catches his eye and he insinuates himself into her life. Though David is a man of a certain age (we later learn he’s 52) he still fancies himself a lady-killer. We see him engaging with prostitutes (and quite a bit of his naked, freckled body) twice in the first ten minutes of the film. He recites Byron to his lecture classes in cool, indifferent tones. Our first impressions of David are unfavorable. John Malcovich brings gravitas and realism to the role of David Lurie, a professor of romantic literature at a university in Cape Town. Monticelli adapted Coetzee’s book as a screenplay and also served as a producer, while Jacobs directed. The issues it raises (dynamics between men and women, a country in transition) are important and difficult, yet it is also just a film about people, and the particular challenges individuals face.ĭisgrace was brought to the screen by the husband and wife team Anna Maria Monticelli and Steve Jacbos. Watching Disgrace is an intense, often uncomfortable experience. The film is a complex examination of sex, power and race relations. Based on JM Coetzee’s Booker Prize-winning novel of the same name, Disgrace takes place in post-apartheid South Africa.
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