Gerald's Game

Gerald’s Game is a horror movie based on Stephen King’s novel Gerald’s Game. Stephen King is a famous horror novel writer, and many of his works were adapted into movies. Similar to his other works, he made a big effort in narrating the protagonists’ background and how their personality change. The movie is composed mostly by dialogue, which makes the audience feel bored. However, the protagonist’s excellent acting and the meaning behind the movie make it become a good movie.

There were three cages in this movie. This most explicit one was the handcuffs that locked Jess, the protagonist, on the bed. Jess’s husband died because he got too angry after having the pill for ED treatment when they were playing sex game. There was no people live near to the house, so Jess had no way to call for help. She could not move, but she had to escape from the handcuff otherwise she would die of hunger or teared by the hungry dog. During her stay on the bed, she started to recall her marriage life and her childhood by a series of imaged conversation between Jess and another Jess and another Gerald.

The second cage was the cage from her husband. Gerald was a man who suffered from erectile dysfunction, but always wanted to play some strange sex games. Gerald was an arrogant man who despised others and did not respect female. Jess did not want anybody to know her unhappy marriage, so she always pretended she had a sweet husband though she was not happy at all. She did not have the courage to leave the cage given by her husband.

The third cage was from her dear father. In the eclipse day, her father told her that he missed the time when she was a little who sat on his lap. Jess’s father asked her to sit on the his lap again, and jerked off when Jess was watching the eclipse. After that Jess’s father threatened her to not tell anyone what happened, so She decided to keep silent. Her father’s behavior impressed her life greatly. When she married to her husband who liked her father, her life in cages became harder and harder. The imaged conversation continued and went deeper which made her realize she had to escape from all three of cages to save her life physically and mentally.

This movie mentioned two kinds of relationship, relationship between marriage and sex, and the relationship between parents and children. Jess and Gerald’s marriage was similar to Jess’s parents’. Both husbands were not loyal to their wives and both wives chose to not speak out. The wife thought her tolerance to the disloyalty would win back her marriage, however this would only make the gap between husband and wife wider. They wasted their lives in the hopeless marriage.

Jess did not have a healthy relationship with her parents which caused a series of problem on Jess. Jess’s father was a pedophile who abuse his own daughter, while her mother did not help Jess even though she realized her husband’s special love to daughter. Jess’ mother’s indifference made the situation worse.  

In the end of the movie, Jess escaped from the handcuffs by cutting off her hand. She finally came out from the nightmare of her marriage and childhood. The movie had a meaningful ending that telling people sometimes difficulties are smaller than you think. In all, the detailed inner speech and the protagonist’s excellent acting made Gerald’s Game a great movie. It had a educational meaning to every family member. Be nice to your children if you are a parent. Be brave to leave your unhappy marriage if you are a wife. Be brave to speak out and seek for help if you are a child.