Tempted

Synopsis: In the swamp-lands of New Orleans a big business developer Le Blanc (Burt Reynolds) decides to test his young bride Lily (Saffron Burrows) by paying a young stud to "take a run at her". The fee is pegged at $50,000 if he proves successful, more than enough to tempt the young master carpenter by day and law student by night to take the money and the run.

Prolific Australian filmmaker Bill Bennett adopted an improvisational technique to create this film. He has used the process before in his Australian hit Kiss or Kill (1997) and also on Malpractice (1989) and Backlash (1986), films which he regards as more successful than his other, more conventionally-made efforts like The Nugget and In a Savage Land. In this instance Bennett presented his cast with a structured sixty-page document, a carefully designed scene by scene breakdown, then rehearsed it over a two week period as close to location and shooting dates as possible. "They spend time talking about each character until they have a detailed breakdown. The idea is to get the actors to understand their characters so intimately, with such a knowledge of those around them, that when they say their lines their choices cease to be arbitrary" says Bennett.

Raising finance on a script without dialogue, however, is no easy task and Bennett, an independent producer with an excellent track record, travelled the globe three times in eight weeks, spending $50,000 of his own money to secure a deal. He saw people in Hollywood, visiting studio after studio and getting knock back after knock back. Many said they loved Kiss or Kill which was distributed in the States through Universal. But none were prepared to make a deal without a fully developed script.

Then Bennett found Golden Circle Films, the people behind the popular hit, My Big Fat Greek Wedding and they took a punt. He also formed a relationship with French distribution company TF1 and finally achieved the financial means to make his film. The outcome meant Tempted had no executive producer, making it less complicated for Bennett to take the steps to produce the film the way he wanted.

Tempted explores sexual desire, suspicion and jealousy. It delves into the dark side of the human psyche. It perpetuates the myth of men's contempt for women and it turns the tables on the archetypal hero, drawing him into his own devil's playground. "There is no such thing as a small lie or act of deceit" says Bennett of the film's core theme. "Once you break your moral code you can't put it back together again."

Each character breaks their moral code in this film in such an unsavoury manner it pushes the sense of morality squarely into the lap of the viewer. The sensation is not a comforting one, the reaction, a desire to escape. Is this what Bennett wanted, to unsettle his audience? "Yes," he says, "it is supposed to be disturbing." And it is, though still leaving one wondering if it is for the best reasons. As a thriller, the film falls for predictability. As a study of the human condition, it doesn't make a very attractive mirror.

Is it the film Bennett wanted to make? "All directors will say they are not quite satisfied. There are always compromises to make. It certainly became a more ambiguous film than I intended. Off the script it was more cut and dry. In the end, I chose to make it more ambiguous". Which is certainly how it comes across on screen.

 

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