Arka Mukhopadhyay
Helmed by Michael Mohan, ‘The Voyeurs’ is a gripping, energetic, NSFW erotic thriller movie that veers off to uncanny lanes. What begins as a steamy, fun sexcapade slowly immerses the audience as we pry into strangers’ lives. Sydney Sweeney delivers a swooning performance in the leading role of Pippa, the protagonist through whose gaze the story unravels. Pippa and Thomas move into a new loft apartment in a lively neighborhood of downtown Montreal.
The movie grabs the viewers’ attention right from the beginning as the couple starts spying on their next-door neighbors. Seb and Julia are their objects of voyeur, but when they appear in the latter part of the movie, the viewers know of their perverse and diabolical intentions. The movie may use some tried-and-tested genre tropes to create its ambiance of intrigue. However, you may wonder whether the story is ripped from the pages of a newspaper. Well, then, let us probe further into the matter.
Is The Voyeurs a True Story?
No, ‘The Voyeurs’ is not based on a true story. The story has no true crime undertext, and it does not claim to be based on a true story. But as the story deals with the conflicting themes of voyeurism and subjectivity, it puts some burning questions before the audience. Michael Mohan directed the movie from a story and screenplay of the director’s own. The story ultimately comes out through impeccable execution – including lighting, montage, and casting. The close-up sequences (like glass breaking on the floor) creates a perfect contrast to the deep field vision of the binoculars, and the lighting at the neighbor’s room creates a perfect backdrop for weaving the ambiance of intrigue.
The director and his team created a set that looked like an apartment and did the rehearsals on the set. He gave Natasha Liu Bordizzo and Ben Hardy free reign in the apartment space, barring some cross-marked spots. The curtains were draped so that the action gets more highlights, as was necessary for a movie that leaves almost nothing to the imagination. The real challenge was that there were no cameras installed in the apartment interior — all the shots were taken from outside. The movie’s real magic is created from a seamless casting, and all the cast members were in a lighthearted and comfortable mood while on set.
The director was familiar with Sydney Sweeney since working together on ‘Everything Sucks!’ He was a little hesitant in offering her the role due to the taxing nature, but she came and swayed in her character. Her character Pippa has to channelize a range of emotions, as she is gradually overtaken by love, guilt, sadness, seduction, frustration, anger, and vengeance in the course of the story. Both Justice Smith and Sydney Sweeney are humble and grounded persons in real life, and they fit into their respective roles perfectly well.
For the character of Sebastian, the director sought a gentleman, and Ben Hardy is also a gentleman off-screen. Other than that, the pair of Natasha Liu Bordizzo and Ben Hardy is also eye-candies, which was necessary to grab the viewers’ attention from the very beginning. When it comes to the overall movie, it cannot come out of the shadows of the classics of Alfred Hitchcock and David Lynch (especially ‘Rear Window’). However, the venture still delivers enough sweet and savory apples for a midnight watch.
Read More: Where Was The Voyeurs Filmed?
