Several years ago, Rear Window was updated as Disturbia, the original's narrative airlifted virtually beat-for-beat out of 1954 and dropped unceremoniously into 2007. But, by then, the politics of voyeurism had changed, and the innocent thrill (until you see something you really don't want to see) of looking into your neighbor's bedroom had lost most of its charge. In a world where people spend as much time interacting through their digital avatars as they do in the flesh, it's safe to say that the primary thrill has moved from voyeurism to exhibitionism, and the hope that somebody, anybody, finds you interesting enough to watch you when you aren't looking. Monogamy understands this development, and even if the internet plays only a meager role in the film, it is very much a film of the internet age, its characters trading in the currency of approval, rejection, and outright stalking that Facebook has made us so comfortable with. It might be framed in a storyline that seems familiar, but Monogamy, unlike so many similarly-themed films, dares to ask a question that most people seem to be avoiding: is the genuine really preferable to the imagined?
Theo (Chris Messina) and Nat (Rashida Jones) are your typical, engaged, sort-of-a-little-artistic, too-old-for-the-scene-but-too-young-for-the-suburbs Brooklyn couple. Theo brings home the bacon by working as a wedding photographer, but has developed a stable side project as "gumshoot", where clients pay him to secretly photograph them while in their natural surroundings, with only the time and location set. At first, they seem to be fairly innocuous, but when the inevitable noir trope comes strolling into his inbox (Subgirl, played by Meital Dohan), the activity takes on a new edge. At first, she is in a park, and begins to masturbate at 9 o'clock in the morning, somehow unnoticed by the legions of children that surround her. Later, she has sex with a man in public. The game she plays isn't obviously illicit or illegal, but it does little to help Theo and Nat's already nearly sexless relationship. Gradually, Theo devotes more and more time to his business relationship with Subgirl, and less and less to his own impending nuptials.
For all its flirtations with the ruby lips of film noir, Monogamy never feels like a thriller. Theo's obsessions mimic the patterns of man on the edge of uncovering a great conspiracy, but even he never thinks he's after anything more sinister than a faithless wife. But like the greatest detectives, he's on the trail of perhaps the greatest mystery of all: why would anyone do the things that they're doing? Why would they derive pleasure from that? Why, of all the people in the world, would they want to involve us in it? Like with so many flawed protagonists, asking the question is much more engaging than answering it, so Theo’s involvement is fairly understandable, particularly when his own engagement to Nat is so bloodless. Every time that he goes in to seal the deal with her, she comes up with another excuse to avoid it, even though she insists that everything is fine between the two of them and that he’s ridiculous for thinking otherwise. His future with Nat is defined by uncertainty and diminishing returns, while his relationship with Subgirl, professional though it might be, is surprisingly consistent and reliably (not to mention rewarding, as she initiates contact more than Nat does).
Monogamy doesn’t promise huge payoff, and it doesn’t deliver one. Instead, its resolution is a little more invasive and just the tiniest bit violating, as it reveals just how deceptive and basic the con really was, and just how much we see conspiracies because we want to see them, and how much our lives are enriched by perceived depth in a world that disappointingly two-dimentsional. Monogamy, as the title has it, is no picnic, and can frequently be more effort than its worth, but it is always the more honest choice, even if it is not always the most appealing or even the wisest. Theo may be a happier person if he never gets anything that he's initially looking for, but he would be less complete, and less able to reciprocate the feelings that others are giving to him.
Bonus Features
The DVD features a number of outtakes (edited together into cohesive pieces), deleted scenes, the screenplay, and a music video for “You Don’t Know” performed by Rashida Jones.
"Monogamy" is on sale June 14, 2011 and is not rated. Drama. Directed by Dana Adam Shapiro. Written by Dana Adam Shapiro, Evan M. Wiener. Starring Chris Messina, Rashida Jones, Meital Dohan.
