Contempt

This film really spells out the distance a couple can have when words are held back or simply not spoken. In trying to be polite, Paul lets his wife, Camille, drive with an obnoxious American producer named Jeremy. Secretly, however, Paul does not want her to drive with him and Camille does not want to drive with Jeremy as well. The way that Paul lets Jeremy take his wife makes Camille think that Paul is "giving" her to Jeremy as some sort of sexual present. Camille is horrified by this and the rest of the film shows their deteriorating relationship. However, at the beginning of the film, it opens up with Paul and Camille in bed. Camille constantly asks Paul if he thinks that she is beautiful. She is always looking for reassurances about her beauty, and the way that the film portrays her, reflects this. She is shown as a very sexual person, and she has the idea that everyone thinks of her as such. So when Paul "gives" her to Jeremy, she can do nothing but think those thoughts.

There were a few shots in the film, when they were on the island, that would circle the entire room. The room had floor to ceiling windows that faced the ocean and it almost seemed other-worldly. it was a far cry from the apartment that they lived in that is what really shows how they have drifted apart - they have gone so far that they are - physically, emotionally, and mentally - in a completely different world.