This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
Kim Samples’s review published on Letterboxd:
This review may contain spoilers.
Strange Allure
This 1980’s fantasy- polish musical is very weird as it features a new twist on a fairy tale that I grew up watching, “The Little Mermaid”. The sensuality and strange allure to this film gives you an almost uncomfortable arousal that is hard to achieve in the making of a film but director, Agnieszka Snoczyriska nailed it, in her debut. “The Lure” is a folkloric sex-horror-comedy that is filled with seedy glamour, chauvinistic objectification, love, exploration, and fatalistic nudity.
This gothic film follows the exploration and evolution of two young mermaid sisters, Golden and Silver, that are venturing out of the water and on to the mainland. They are sirens that lure men into getting what they want and in the intro, it got them out of the water and into the hands of a cabaret singer, Krysia. She introduces them to her boss and they unashamedly show their naked bodies and demonstrate how they morph their legs into a fishtail by just a few sprinkles of water. The club manager says, “smooth as Barbie dolls'' as he points out their lack of genitalia. The club owner is seeing dollar signs and has them perform as singing adult entertainment and calls their act, very fittingly, “The Lure”.
The director shines with her jack-in-the box array of genius shots. The close-up headshots and the direct eye contact with the audience brilliantly demanded attention. The freeze-frame shot with Golden walking around naked was visually appealing and the insert-shot is also captivating during the same-sex love scene. The music is fantasy themed, dark and emotional complete with cruise like stage performances and a flash mob. The costumes are very retro, colorful, playful and contrasts the dark in this film. .
The mermaid's sisterly bond is strong but a boy named, Mietek, the bass player in the nightclub band is smitten with Silver and comes between them causing jealousy, change, emotion and eventual tragedy. They have different personalities and sometimes they fight telepathically and physically when they disagree. Golden is a protector, very confident, seductive, edgy, loyal and it excites her to play with fire. Silver is romantic, timid, sweet, shy, wants to be in love and dreams of being a land dweller permanently with her own legs. They are exploring and experiencing firsts sexually and socially.
Silver is in love and even though Mietek says to her, “you'll always be a fish to me”, she is completely smitten. Tritan tells Golden, “keep an eye on her. If she falls in love with a human and he marries someone else….she’ll turn into seafoam before the night is out”. Golden on the other hand, frustrated at her sister's new love, she lures a man out of the bar and into his car only to eat him and tear out his heart. The police are now hot on her trail and a policewoman questions Golden and ends up in a strangely alluring, weirdly provocative sexual encounter with her where they both climax.
I have to give an honorable mention to the character of cabaret singer, Krysia, played by Kinga Preis. I could not take my eyes off of her. I was drawn to her like a moth to a flame. She acted brilliantly as she commanded the screen with her beautiful anguish. Her captivating sad eyes and her obsession with the mermaids, made for a very intriguing character and I wanted to see more of her.
The band suspects the sisters of the murder that has been broadcasted on the news and the drummer punches the girl and dumps them back into the ocean. Thinking they're dead, the drummer, singer and bass player almost die from guilt. The girls emerge and feed on two men’s beating hearts reverting back to their old ways. Golden is happy but Silver is not so they find themselves back in the nightclub. Silver is smoking and drinking like a pro as she has evolved into a more risque woman that knows what she wants. She wants Mietek to love her and she needs legs not a fishtail, even though Tritan told her she would lose her voice. She makes a decision and taps into the black market and goes under the knife as her transplant was successful.
Silver is happy but to no avail, Mietek falls in love with another and plans to marry. She still loves him even after his betrayal and she sacrificed everything for him. At the wedding, Golden looks on as Silver promised she would eat Mietek but as Silver embraced him for the last time she loved him too much to end his life and turned into seafoam. Angrily, the sister kills Mietek and jumps back into the sea where she calls home and it is safe.
This so-called version of the fairy tail didn't have a fairy tail ending at all. It was tragic and as much as I like fairy tail endings and I can not relate to Silver’s sacrifice, I was excited that the ending was different and shocking. She sacrificed everything for love and there is something so sweet and genuine to it but also extremely sacrificial of oneself when the feelings were not reciprocated. The film was filled with conflict, differing personalities, sexual exploration and evolving to learn the lessons in life. I enjoyed this film as it took me out of my comfort zone with its fetishistic fun and bizarre bloodlust. I recommend you watch this film but keep an open mind because it really is a fish out of water.