Your Monster

Supporting a partner with cancer is tough. Not everybody can hack it; not every ailing partner wants them to; and sometimes the partnership survives but the sexual attraction and/or the romance does not. Nonetheless, there is something unsettling about the fact that relationships are over six times more likely to end following diagnosis if the sufferer is female and the healthy partner male. This happened to writer/director Caroline Lindy and she put her anger into her first feature-length script, going on to direct. The result is Your Monster, which uses the conventions of the romcom to explore one woman’s journey to engage with life on her own terms.

That woman is Laura (Melissa Barrera), an actor and, well, what is still all too often referred to as a muse, though it’s clear that her creative input to her ex’s new musical has been rather more substantial than that implies. He is Jacob (Edmund Donovan) and he’s keen for them to remain friends, comfortable even for them to work together, though of course he’ll be the boss. With little else in her life that feels remotely positive, she accepts this , thinking of that as the mature way to respond, figuring that it’s better than being alone in the world. Her friend Maizie (Kayla Foster) helps her to get home from the hospital and promises to be there to support her in one of those sugary moments of female bonding that romcoms often rely on – but as the days drag on, she’s barely around. Lindy is no more willing to buy into the best friends forever myth than she is that of the perfect boyfriend.

Things take a turn, however, when Laura discovers that she’s not alone in her home. She’s sharing it with someone she has known since childhood, but not in a positive way. Whilst she was in hospital, the monster who used to live in her closet (Tommy Dewey) has moved on up and occupied the rest of the house. he wants her gone, but her distraught response persuades him to let her stay for two weeks whilst she gets her life sorted out, and over that time they begin to bond. She sleeps on the bed and he sleeps underneath it. They share take-out, plat board games and watch old movies. She talks to him about Jacob and is surprised that he doesn’t see the situation in the same way.

Even without the title giving the game away, viewers are unlikely to miss where this going. All else aside, Monster – the only name he gets – isn’t really all that monstrous. He has a heavy brow ridge and long, claw-like fingernails, but other notable characteristics – his long hair, his more than averagely abundant body hair, his height, his big bushy beard – are not all that unusual. That’s if we interpret him literally, however. The film allows for plenty of flexibility in this regard, which in turn allows for the exploration of multiple themes.

Whilst the film focuses heavily on Laura’s need to discover the monster within herself, and to get a grip on her life by learning how and when it is appropriate to display anger, it also sounds some cautionary notes about what she might be looking for in future relationships. Monster indulges in violent behaviour which many viewers will see as understandable but not justified, subsequently talking Laura out of her objections and being rewarded for it. Arguments are dealt with by throwing things. It’s behaviour which makes sense in the context of a connection formed in childhood, but it also suggests that Laura might still be all too willing to put up with things which could make her vulnerable.

Aside from the rather rushed explanation of Monster’s origins, the film is tightly structured to begin with, but begins to lose its way later on. There’s a messiness that makes sense in light of Laura’s confused emotions, but there’s also messiness that doesn’t really achieve anything and becomes problematic. furthermore, whilst it might have seemed daring at the writing stage, Your Monster now emerges as part of a wave of films dealing with women’s anger at being mistreated, and it feels rather tame and apologetic compared to the likes of The Substance.

Mostly enjoyable but lacking a certain panache, this is, perhaps, a gateway drug for women just learning how to lose their temper.