Gross Misconduct
Directed by George Miller
Written by Lance Peters and Gerard Maguire
Starring Jimmy Smits and Naomi Watts
Reviewed by Didit T. and Max Lane
[Note: This review has to reveal the plot of Gross Misconduct. Don't read it if you want to see the film and be surprised.]
This was not an impressive film despite being cleverly written, with a certain twist in the plot at the end. Overall, however, the conclusion can only be that it is an anti-feminist film, definitely — albeit with a certain amount of ambiguity — peddling fairly ordinary stereotypes of women.
The major part of the film deals with the prelude to a sexual encounter between a university lecturer, Justin (Jimmy Smits) and one of his women students, Jennifer (Naomi Watts), which then gives rise to a false accusation of rape.
Throughout these events and the trial that follows, Jennifer is depicted as totally subordinated to her erotic fantasies, which she records as reality in her diary: overly emotional, forcing herself on her lecturer and then unable to deal with rejection to the extent that she runs amok in his office, almost wrecking it. It is in the immediate aftermath of this outburst that Justin surrenders to Jennifer's advances.
During the trial, Jennifer is subjected to all the normal lawyer's tricks in order to be made to look promiscuous. Cheers erupted from the misogynist hoons in the back of the cinema every time the defence lawyer scored a point against Jennifer. It was hard not to be disturbed by the idea that such a slick, well-made film about a false accusation of rape should be released during a period when there had been so many judges making "no doesn't always mean no" decisions in rape cases.
However, the film then makes a sudden turn away from this framework. It is revealed that Jennifer is in fact the victim of long-term sexual abuse by her
father — and, finally, jealous physical abuse.
So far, so good, it would seem. A problem arises, however, in terms of the context which is shown as giving rise to both the disaster that befalls Justin and the terrible fate that has already befallen Jennifer.
Justin is happily married, with two children. He has never been unfaithful to his wife. Disaster, in terms of the trial and all its consequences, befalls him because he strays from the family man's way of life. At the same time, Jennifer's plight is depicted as that of somebody in an incomplete family. She lost her mother in a car accident and lives alone with her father.
Jennifer's suffering is thereby associated with an abnormal family situation and Justin's with deviance from a proper family life. The film seems to declare that both men and women are victims — although women's suffering can be worse — when the norms of the traditional family are either absent or contravened.
In the final moments of the film, Jennifer goes to Justin's originally angry but now supportive wife for help. Justin and his wife are then finally reconciled as he walks out of prison. Perfect: and happy ever after — and Jennifer, who knows? who cares?