Stay (2005)

Elevator Pitch: A young man, Henry Letham, is found sitting on a New York bridge with his car burning behind him. He is assigned a psychiatrist but does not like him because he is a replacement for his regular shrink. The psychiatrist, Sam Foster, has the job of trying to pursuade Henry not to commit suicide at a specific time in the near future, and is assisted in his efforts by his slim-hipped girlfriend, Lila, herself a survivor of a suicide attempt. Henry and Sam seem to meet at indeterminate times in a variety of locations, and Sam’ s efforts to investigate his patient’s life lead to confusion rather than clarity.

Content: We see the man with the burning car on the bridge. There is a visit to a low grade strip club at one point, but no female nudity. Just a bit of drinking and smoking. The shrink and his girlfriend discuss the case in their flat and he meets his client in a variety of locations, some of them exotic and involving Etcher-like staircases. At times specific scenes are repeated and people are seen in crowds often carrying identical metal briefcases.

A View: Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts are an attractive pair, but they cannot save this disaster. The critics hated it, with good reason and it lost a fortune. It is definitely not in the class of “so bad it’s good”, it is just bad. I will try to be specific about one aspect of the film without telling you how it all ends. I have identified some of the content, and I’m sure that the intent is that you will get clues as to what is actually happening. Unfortunately there are so many viewpoints that the reveal will come as a surprise and not a good one. So not a watch, even for nothing.

Additional info: In an interview the director reveals why Sam’s trousers are too short. Well, I’ll go to the foot of our stairs!