In this laughable tale, Mary (Andrea Edmondson) is unappreciated by everyone in her life including the boyfriend who killed her cat. It seems that only the slimy Frenchman Philip (Pierre Dulat) understands Mary and what she needs. He introduces her to lifestyle BDSM (Bondage Discipline SadoMasochism) and, by locking her in a cage, frees her to be his GG (“good girl”). Previously inexperienced with “the lifestyle,” Mary adopts the conventions of her newfound slavery with a questionable ease, taking to her triangular cage as if she had been born there.
Rather than explore the dynamics of D/s (“Dominance/submission”), training, and various forms of play as done in Molly Weatherfield’s Carrie’s Story, Kim Corum’s Breaking the Girl, Pauline Reage’s The Story of O, or Puppy Sharon and Steven Toushin’s The Puppy Papers, THE PET moves quickly from lukewarm erotica into tepid thriller territory with a human trafficking plot. If the lame first half was too much for the actors to handle, this boost in the melodrama is almost enough to put them into histrionics.
Yes, the acting in THE PET is bad. To call Andrea Edmonson “wooden” would be an insult to trees. The acting is even worse than the barrel bottom production values. D. Stevens manages the impossible; by creating such an awful bit of drivel masquerading as adult content, he makes Zalman King look like Douglas Sirk. Worse, all of the marketing of THE PET positions the film as being aware and empathetic of real BDSM but none of this comes across on screen.
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