Escape Me Never: A Melodrama That Just Won't Quit

Is it worth your time?

If you have a high tolerance for 1930s-style theatrical acting and can handle characters who make every single decision based on pure, unadulterated angst, then maybe. It’s for the folks who like their cinema to feel like a stage play that forgot to close the curtains. If you’re the type who gets annoyed by characters who refuse to just talk to each other like normal human beings, you’re going to loathe this.

Elisabeth Bergner is doing a lot of work here. She’s playing Gemma with this intensity that feels like it’s vibrating right off the screen. Sometimes it’s mesmerizing, and other times I just wanted her to take a nap and drink some water.

The whole thing feels a bit like Fate in how it just drags these poor people through the mud for no reason other than the plot demands it. Nobody is actually happy. Not for a second.

Some Observations

• The Venetian backdrop is nice, but it feels like a postcard someone bought at a gift shop and forgot to mail.
• There’s a specific scene involving a music score that goes on for about three minutes too long. You can literally see the actors waiting for their next cue.
• The way they handle the brother-to-brother tension is so subtle it almost doesn't exist. Which is a shame, because that’s where the actual conflict is hiding!

It’s not as chaotic as Hot Sands and Cold Feet, but it’s definitely trying to capture that same sense of 'why is everyone crying in public?'

I found myself staring at the background extras more than the leads for a solid ten minutes. There’s a guy in a cafe scene who is clearly just holding a newspaper and not reading a single word on the page. He’s just waiting for the director to yell cut. I feel you, buddy.

The dialogue is thick. It’s heavy. Sometimes it sounds like they’re reciting poetry while trying to eat a dry cracker. You know the type.

Is it better than The Fox Woman? Honestly, they’re just different flavors of old-fashioned melodrama. You either want to be stuck in this gloomy, romantic loop, or you don't. I don't think this movie cares if you watch it or not, which is actually kind of refreshing in a weird way. It just exists. It’s there. Doing its thing. 🎭