Release Date: October 4, 2013 (Limited)
Director: Stacie Passon
MPAA Rating: R
Film Pulse Score: 6.5/10
After suffering a blow to the head while playing in the park with her kids, Abby looks at her life and comes to the realization that this isn’t enough. Sure she is enjoying renovating a downtown apartment, she has a loving wife, a gorgeous home and adoring children but something is missing. After deciding to see an escort she soon finds herself intrigued by the possibilities that becoming one could bring. This is the setup for Stacie Passon’s directorial debut Concussion.
Passon’s film is about a lesbian couple and lesbian relationships. Passon doesn’t dwell upon nor make it an issue within the film, it is handled rather matter-of-factly. This film is simply about the relationship between a married couple who are going through what many other couples, lesbian and hetero, have gone through before and will likely after. It certainly raises some interesting questions. What drives someone to become an escort? What kind of an impact could that have on a relationship especially if they are married? How about amongst your circle of friends, what then?
Robin Weigert stars as Abby. She does a fine job of portraying a woman who seems to have entered her mid-life crisis. You can see the change in Abby and how she has become more confident. She can clearly get out whenever she wants but she chooses to keep Eleanor, her escort name, alive. Julie Fain Lawrence also stars as Kate, Abby’s wife. She’s an inattentive partner who’s always hard a work and comes home tired. There really isn’t much for her to do in the film until the second half where she really has the opportunity to shine. Maggie Siff is quite good as a woman who sees Abby despite being in a hetero marriage and living in Abby’s hometown. She is that one client that Abby has a real connection with even though she knows it only about the service and nothing more.
Passon has written an interesting story about a side of the prostitution business most people never give much thought to. It’s usually the traditional conception that it’s a man seeking a woman and never a woman seeking a woman in the escort business. Passon doesn’t sensationalize the subject matter and instead treats it realistically. The sex scenes are never played up to titillate nor exploit the women. She doesn’t judge either side but looks at it as a part of life and no more.
Concussion is a interesting drama with a fairly unique perspective on a business that most would prefer not talk about. It features some good performances and is well written and directed. It is certainly an auspicious debut for Stacie Passon that is worth checking out.
