Movie: In the Company of Men (Neil LaBute, 1997)
Chad (Aaron Eckhart) is a business graduate who can meet women coasting on his professional, cool look and his ability to fake charm and confidence, but it's easy to believe these relationships end sooner rather than later. He is selfish, egotistical, arrogant and willing to exploit any inkling of power for his own gain. Howard (Matt Malloy) is his schlubby college buddy and work colleague. We get the sense that he's always operated in Chad's shadow, picking up the breadcrumbs he leaves behind, without ever really thinking for himself or developing a real identity. Their work trip to Fort Wayne for a project supervised by Howard is an opportunity for change, but even before they set foot in the office they revert to their traditional ways. Chad proposes to amuse themselves by wooing the most vulnerable woman they can find, showering her with love and attention, and breaking up with her when she falls in love with them. He reasons it would be great revenge for their recent breakups. Of course, 'Howie' goes along.
Howard and Chad spend most of their time demeaning other colleagues and their job, taking personal calls, chiding their minions, having lunch, taking smoke breaks, playing golf and courting Christine (Stacy Edwards), the deaf typist in their office. Most of these activities border on the nihilistic and serve as nothing but fuel for their personal ego's and sense of superiority. However, sleeping with other women is easy, but when your objective is love, that takes work. Howard and Chad have never done that work, and their relationship with Christine forces them to adjust their behavior. They actually listen and respond to her emotional needs. They adjust to her speech impediment and make her feel good about herself. Chad becomes intrigued to know more about how deaf people communicate and how they watch movies, while Howard teaches himself the basics of sign language. Though they neither can't nor want to articulate it without layers upon layers of irony, they like the feelings of care and love their relationship with Christine evokes in them, and they like the opportunity to explore a different side of themselves. Chad is not entirely sure whether he wants to fully accept that side and tries to have his cake and eat it for as long as he can. When he is forced to drop the charade, he transforms in a split second from a caring lover into a raging mysoginist, providing Eckhart's best and most disturbing 'Two-Face' performance of his career.
LaBute likes to explore to what extent character/psychology breeds behavior and whether people can become good and caring if they make a conscious effort to do so. Howard can't, despite trying real hard, and when he screams at Christine that she is "fucking handicapped", the film's suggestion is that she is not the only one. It sees Howard's inability to choose a different kind of life, unaffected by the forces that have confined him, as a form of disability, especially emphasised during the final scenes showing his emotional impotence making him literally sick. In the Company of Men is a good film about mysoginist attitudes, male rage, abuse of power and how all of these are enabled by the patriarchal hierarchies of corporate culture. Many films have been made about abusive men though, What makes this one special is LaBute's willingness to explore what happens when men (or even people in general) choose to step outside of the norms and values of their culture, and how they can give themselves cover to do so. When people act against the expectations of their in-group, that raises all kinds of uncomfortable questions they prefer not to answer, risking both their self-identity and their social acceptance. So if you want to try out how it feels to be more sensitive and caring towards women, wouldn't you hide it in a mysoginistic game? Maybe these aren't Chad's intentions, but would it look any different if they were? The ending certainly allows for such an intepretation, and if you wanna have some fun going out on a limb you could also see these ideas reflected by some of LaBute's aesthetic choices.
It would make sense for a film about the abuse of a deaf person to go the extra mile to be accessible to deaf people, but the crowd of 90's indie cool kids LaBute tried to make his name in would definitely look slightly down on such concerns. However, as In the Company of Men is his debut feature and an adaptation of his own play it has a good excuse to mostly consist of statically filmed dialogue, set in/against deeply ordinary backgrounds. An added benefit is that this gives the impression that some of the most hateful shit you'll ever hear is nothing more than an unremarkable commonplace experience, giving the film the edgy appeal it seeks. 'Coincidentally', LaBute's approach also makes it easier for deaf people to follow the film, as in most scenes they can read the actors' lips. Maybe that's not LaBute's intention, but would it look any different if it were? Well, the scene in which Christine explains to Chad that she follows most films by reading lips is shot from high up, making it impossible for anyone to read the actors' lips, in the process reinforcing the film's core idea that caring about other people's needs is a choice you can or can not make.
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