Byzantium

This is a movie most of you will find boring because the first half of the movie is all over the place and with many questions, but for those of you who don’t give up on movies and watch them till the end, this is a really good movie for you.

Two women, Eleanor and Clara live their lives together. Eleanor is a sixteen year old looking girl and Clara is a young woman who works as a stripper in order for the two of them to be able to stay in an apartment. They leave from a crime scene and seek refuge in a run-down coastal resort. There, Clara sells her body in order for them to have money and find a play to live, while Eleanor passes by a restaurant where she plays the piano. Frank is one of the workers there and he takes an interest in young Eleanor.

Clara takes a customer named Noel who is very lonely and shy. He talks with her, seeing as he seemed to need more of a psychologist than a prostitute. After speaking, Noel tells her about Byzantium; his deserted guesthouse. Clara sleeps with him and manages to stay there with him and the young Eleanor. While going to school, Eleanor will meet Frank once again and she will tell him her lethal secret which is nothing more than her own story. She tells him she’s a vampire that lives by drinking blood and she was born many years ago but she will forever remain a sixteen year old looking girl.

Their secret will reach the ears of the ones who are hunting them down and there will be deathly consequences.

Overall, I really enjoyed this. I was glad when upon watching the second half of the movie, all my questions were answered and realized this wasn’t just a boring movie. The mystery in this story was the biggest part along with the romance building up on Eleanor’s part and Clara’s shady past.

The story unfolds at a slow pace, yet you will be drawn to the main leading characters; Eleanor and Clara. Saoirse Ronan and Gemma Arterton impressed me with their acting skills in this movie, even though one of the scenes which lasted for no more than fifteen seconds was a bit unrealistic.

There is minimal nudity but that’s not what this movie is about. This story is simply about what a mother had to do for her child: a mother’s love. If I had to rate this movie, then I would rate it with eight out of ten stars.