Very disappointing...

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

"Appropriate Adult" from 2011 is based on the Fred and Rosemary West murder case. A social worker in training, Janet Leach (Emily Watson) is brought in by Gloucester police as the "appropriate adult" at the interrogation of Fred West (Dominic West), thought to be a little on the simple side. He and his wife Rosemary (Monica Dolan) have been accused of killing their daughter and burying the body in their garden.Fred says right up front that he wants to set the record straight. He tells a story of his daughter wanting to leave home, that she said something nasty to him, and he grabbed her by the throat. Suddenly she turned blue. He tried mouth to mouth but she seemed to get worse. Well, what to do. So he got an ice breaker to cut off her legs so he could stuff her somewhere and then Rosemary wouldn't see her.When asked why he didn't tell the police this before, Fred says, "Well, I wasn't ready." Anyway he claims Rosemary knew nothing about it. He is so casual and matter-of-fact, listening to him is shocking.Fred seems to take to Janet, so he confides in her, again, casually, that there are more bodies, around nine. Since anything he tells her is confidential, she can't repeat what he said. Later he talks about the love of his life, Anna, and Janet discovers that she bears a resemblance to her. He seems to be very dependent on her.Janet has her own problems - children and a bipolar partner who has gone off his meds.Once his interrogation is over, Fred begs her to visit him in prison. Thinking he might give her more info and implicate Rosemary, she visits him several times.This is a terrific psychological drama. It kind of reminded me of what actually happened to Capote in the Cutter case, where Perry Smith bonded with him, or so Capote believed. I think he tried all along to manipulate him, as I think Fred here played Janet. Janet is not fooled by him, but there is something about him claiming that he needed her that keeps her coming back and makes her feel important out of the chaos of her home.Emily Watson is fantastic - quiet, unassuming, very committed, and by the book, who becomes more involved than she planned, and who can't forget the horrors that Fred tells her. And Dominic West is simply astonishing - no emotion as he talks about the killings, talks about Anna being the love of his life, and how Rosemary, who is in prison under suspicion, must get out of prison to keep the family together. As if there is a family and Rosemary is not a prostitute.Monica Dolan as Rosemary is mean as dirt. It's a great performance - she's hateful.Highly recommended. A very unsettling story of a normal woman who comes face to face with the unimaginable.

Emily Watson's stunning BAFTA winning performance sets the small screen ablaze in this gripping study of sociopathy and those seduced by it. Watson does some of her most memorable and powerful work here and it is a clear demonstration of a gifted actor at the height of her artistry. Dominic West is also good with Monica Dolan absolutely amazing in the role of the murder's wife. The script is incisive and the direction crisp and efficient. A sense of overwhelming dread and discomfort permeates the film from beginning to end and heightens the intensity throughout. It is, however, Emily Watson who is absolutely incredible in this role and whose wondrous talent will blind audiences with its fiery brilliance. This is an actor who never fails to bring humanity and truth to any character she plays and her gifts are especially on beautiful display in this mesmerizing performance.

I find I'm the skunk at the garden party with this flick. I found this highly acclaimed docudrama repellent, but not for the reasons one might suspect. It was repellent - as well as incomprehensible - to watch Leach's developing interest and fascination with Fred West. Anyone watching this movie should first do some Googling to find out the details of what Fred and Rosemary West perpetrated. If anyone deserves to be called human monsters, it is this pair. In the light of this knowledge, the script's clear intention - to me anyway - to actually make West into a figure of sympathy is disgusting. Knowing the nature of his deeds, his weeping and the crying about the "baby" (complete with colorful regional pronunciation of the word) are repulsive. It was also interesting to see the British treatment of prisoners in interrogation: allowed to wear their own clothes (no prison uniforms) and pretty much conducted like afternoon tea. As at least one other critic has observed, it is incomprehensible how any morally sentient human being could develop any sympathy with this fiend, as Leach evidently did. As the relationship between Leach and West is at the core of this narrative, and her motivation remains unexplained if not inexplicable, the whole movie does not wash.It was nice of the producers to include the photos of the actual victims in the closing credits. During the movie itself there is minimal emotion at their loss; the burial of their remains is portrayed with as much moral weight as the burial of a pickle jar.

A lesser production about the West's story would have probably gone for Se7en style moods and grisly gory details. A horror.Fortunately, and far more rewardingly for any engaged viewer, the story focuses on a human relationship story whilst allowing the imagination to piece together events in the background.The dynamics of the relationship are fascinating, more-so because they are true. In the final analysis, that Janet (the appropriate adult) allowed herself to be manipulated and seduced by Fred West is a chilling illustration of the true nature of what we are dealing with here. The thought that this same psychological treatment would have led countless others into his trust, and ultimately their deaths, is far more terrifying in its cold reality than any conscious attempts at "horror" could have been.Janet doesn't only represent the victims but also the vast majority of normal human beings - vulnerable to emotional needs, a willing and optimistic mindset, and the inability to always separate imagination from reality.A very fascinating angle on a difficult subject.