Oleanna

A film that takes place in a university office. John is a lecturer. His tenure review has gone well, he is buying a new house, and he is on the phone to an estate agent. Carol is one of his students. She comes to the office; she does not understand the course, her marks are low, and she does not know what to do. John talks. He tries to reassure her, gives examples from his own student years, criticises the education system, and answers the telephone in between. At one point he touches her. He puts a hand on her shoulder and tells her to sit down. The first section ends there. In the second Carol comes back. She has filed a complaint, and in it that day's conversation is described in another language. John is bewildered. He does not understand what he has done and tries to defend himself. In the third the situation is far worse. Tenure has been refused, the house cannot be bought, and Carol brings a new condition. What the narrative is interested in is not harassment but power: the film puts neither side in the right or the wrong; what it really shows is the power in the room changing hands section by section. The dialogue is Mamet's known writing. Sentences are left unfinished, two people speak at once, and nobody listens. The source is the author's own play. When it was staged, audiences argued in the auditorium and there were protests. The film does not soften it. The final scene caused argument for its harshness, and that was in the play as well. There is essentially one location. The whole film takes place in the same room and is divided into three parts. William H. Macy and Debra Eisenstadt are the cast. David Mamet wrote and directed. Who it is for: anyone who likes provocative films built on dialogue. Who it is not for: anyone expecting a narrative that takes a side; the film deliberately gives no answer and both characters are unpleasant.