Young Adam Movie
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Storyline
TAGLINES PLOT SUMMARY
Joe, a rootless young drifter, finds work on a barge travelling between Glasgow and Edinburgh, owned by Les and his wife Ella. One afternoon they discover the corpse of a young woman floating in the water. Accident? Suicide? Murder? As the police investigate and suspect is arrested, we discover that Joe knows more than he is letting on. Gradually we learn of Joe's past relationship with the dead woman. Meanwhile an unspoken attraction develops between Joe and Ella, heightening the claustrophobic tensions in the confined space of the barge.
| Ewan McGregor | Joe Taylor |
| Tilda Swinton | Ella Gault |
| Peter Mullan | Les Gault |
| Emily Mortimer | Cathie Dimly |
| Jack McElhone | Jim Gault |
| Therese Bradley | Gwen |
| Ewan Stewart | Daniel Gordon |
| Stuart McQuarrie | Bill |
| Pauline Turner | Connie |
| Alan Cooke | Bob M'bussi |
| Rory McCann | Sam |
| Ian Hanmore | Freight Supervisor |
| Andrew Neil | Barman |
| Arnold Brown | Bowler Hat Man |
| Meg Fraser | Stall Woman |
| David Mackenzie |
6.40 out of 10 (3863 votes)
Visitor Reviews
I want my money back!
posted on 20 Jul 2009This movie was really bad. It was painfully slow. The whole thing seem to be begging to get over. There were three sub plots and none of them were complete or viable as a story. The dialouge was so bad that I kept looking forward to the next sex scene because they wouldn't say anything. The sex scenes were hilarious to say the least. They tried to portray a hunger between the main characters but it made me laugh. I felt i was watching an episode of 'Wild Kingdom's Most Hilarious Moments'.And the sex scene with the custard and ketchup! Who thought that was art. It was a porno fetish film. I expected much better from Ewan MacGregor and Tilda Swinton and felt ripped off.
Thought the TV trailer looked really good - I was very wrong!
posted on 08 Jul 2009I thought id go see this film after watching the trailer for it on TV, wish I hadnt!From the trailer it appared to be a murder thriller and looked quite chilling so was looking forward to seeing it!I found the film very boring and consisted of long brooding mainly silent scenes which cut to a raw sex scene with Ewan pointlessly humping every woman he met!
Horny Adam and his drama-movie conquests.
posted on 06 Jul 2009Or "Horny Adam". At first this appears to be a mere erotic drama, with McGregor having sex just about every 5 minutes (real time), with any of the four women he conquers here with ease. But, as the flashbacks start appearing it becomes obvious he used to have an affair with the dead woman, as well. (Not while she was dead; it's not that kind of movie, fortunately.) The real surprise comes after we find out that it was an accident, and a very strange one. So anyway, a totally innocent man is accused and found guilty of the "murder", and we see Ewan wrestling with his conscience i.e. whether to or how to help the poor schluck, while – of course – perpetually wrestling with various women in their beds. We also find out he's a failed writer. In the end he doesn't do too much to save the guy who's about to be hanged for that accident. He finally leaves Swinton, whose sister he also had sex with, and then he does… what…? Well, it's a drama, so there doesn't have to be concrete ending, right? He just leaves.So, was this a good movie? Well, there is a plot, and the cast is solid, but I really couldn't see the point of all those sex scenes – apart from increasing box-office profits and/or pleasing nerdy little sex-starved sexually-frustrated European movie-critics (and one American one, Roger Ebert, who gave this "two very high thumbs up", i.e. chubby little ol' Roger must have been really excited by the nudity in his advancing age.) The movie seems to have been a hit with various European festivals so that's normally a recommendation to steer clear. However, the movie is not bad at all, not dull (plus the actress playing the dead woman is fairly attractive with a terrific body).However, there is one scene that was totally out of place, and should have been edited out with swiftness: the jazz-music-driven Ewan-molests-his-girl-with-food-and-then-rapes-her. This scene made too little sense in view of everything else that was shown and alone for its modern-jazz background comes off all wrong. Another scene that made little sense is the opening scene in which Ewan and his "boss" fish out the corpse. Ewan acts as if he didn't give a crap (which is not entirely true), and the latter acts as if he fishes out dead semi-nude women out of the water for a living.For all you female readers, in case you're wondering – yes, Ewan shows his impressive pecker yet again. I just wish there was something for us male viewers to see on Tilda… except for a reason to get a bag and open it below are mouths…
well sean connery certainly enjoyed it!
posted on 09 Apr 2009i remember when this moodily shot, atmospheric scottish thriller premiered at the edinborough film festival and was well received by patron sir sean whose comments i overheard on an interview the legendary scot thespian gave for bbc radio 4's 'back row' film programme. having then seen an uncut print of it upon general release at me local multiplex, i must say that i was mightily impressed. well directed by david mackenzie from a little known novel by alexandra tocchi; the basic story revolves around a sexually obsessed drifter (ewan macgregor in a deliberately 'about turn' performance towards lucas' obi wan kenobi) and his relationship with a couple he works for on a river barge. en route, our ewan embarks on a number of amorous adventures including a highbrow 'dairy end' encounter with a bird in an alleyway.
Young enough to bang chicks!
posted on 14 Mar 2009'Young Adam' is a classic 2003 film, I mean it's a interesting film, but the sex scenes are outstanding. They are shot so well and performed so well. The film is a winner all the way!Highpoints of the film: 1. Note the scene where Ewan intentionally touches Tilda Swinton's panties throw the table. 2. The scene where Tilda agrees to have sex with Ewan, and bangs her till she screams. 3. The scene where Ewan bangs Emily in the mud. 4. The custard scene, where a poor Emily is helpless and taken aggressively from behind. Ewan banged her damn neat, poor girl. 5. The scene where Ewan bangs the 3rd chick from behind. 'Young Adam' gets a thumps up! Watch it with your friends. Strictly for adult viewing!
Hail Ewan McGregor!
posted on 26 Feb 2009Okay, this film isn't for everyone. A little dreary, a little bleak, and the love scenes weren't always attractive, but something in the dark simplicity got me.McGregor is incredibly versatile, I didn't think once of the bohemian poet Christian, or of Obi Wan... he's taken on an unlikeable character with a slow moving plot and pulled it off beautifully. Tilda Swinton plays the antithesis of a Hollywood seductress, which makes some of the love scenes uncomfortable, but refreshing. The acting, as a whole, is the entire film. The action between characters is subtle and intense, and although I may be biased as an Ewan fan, I thought it was perfect for a dark, rainy night!
Terrible
posted on 22 Feb 2009I have a new film to add to my Most Despised Films of all Time list! I watched Young Adam last night and, thankfully, I've forgotten most of it already.Ewan McGregor is completely miscast as a broodingly sexual anti-hero. He rarely speak and when he does it's usually to say something inane. He's supposed to exude some kind of charisma while sulking but he's not up to the task. He's as bland as they come and all the full frontal nude shots in the world can't change that.This is a movie about dull people who say dull things who live in a dull place where only dull things happen and they force you to enter their dull world for 90 dull minutes plus - in short, this film is torture.So go outside, play in the sun, watch paint dry - do anything but watch Young Adam.
Leaves you feeling very uncomfortable
posted on 18 Feb 2009I assume that the message that Young Adam wants to convey is that not knowing where you are in life or where you are going is a dangerous thing. Not only for you, but for the people around you. Ewan McGregor plays a young drifter called Joe working and living onboard a barge in 1950s Scotland. In the first scene of the movie, he finds the floating corpse of a dark-haired woman and that sets the perpetually gloomy tone for Young Adam. We follow this bleak chapter in Joe's life in which all he pretty much does is have lots of sex with married women. Gradually, more depth is added to his character and we learn the real story behind the dead woman and Joe.There is a parallel storyline taking place in Young Adam, that of Joe before he found the corpse in the water. So, it shifts between that one and Joe onboard the barge, sleeping with his boss' wife, Tilda Swinton. For some reason, watching Tilda makes me feel really uncomfortable; she is just so ugly and miserable and hunched that it's all too realistic for me to take. This is also true for the whole movie, which is endlessly depressing, but very realistic. In that sense, I don't know how to rate it. Based on how well-made it was, it'll score high - but I certainly found it extremely boring to watch. I'll settle for 7/10.
Joyless Rutting in Post-War Scotland
posted on 08 Feb 2009I felt I should like this film more, fine acting, interesting settings but for me it failed to ever get out of second gear. I thought about it afterwards & a couple of things struck me as lacking. Firstly the 2 main characters played by Ewan Macgregor and Tilda Swinton failed to generate any interest either positive or negative for me - a failing of the script and direction not of these 2 fine actors. Their main way of relating via quick and unerotic couplings was for me anyway - boring ! We never really get any true insight into their motivations and feelings. Some might say, that people from that time, class, background etc may have been taciturn , quiet etc - fair enough, nevertheless it doesn't make good cinema. The only character that I thought generated interest (and sympathy) was Les (played by the excellent Peter Mullan) the cuckolded husband but he largely disappeared from the film half way through. Unfortunately for this reviewer anyway the emotional coldness of the characters proved an insurmountable barrier in actually connecting with the film on either an emotional or intellectual level.
More is said in silence than with dialogue
posted on 15 Jan 2009Spoiler warning !!Although the audience may not realise it initially, this film is carefully constructed with two story lines, one of which is through flashbacks that blend so seamlessly with the 'present' that it feels like it's running in parallel. As well, the director is in no hurry to give the audience everything all at once. He lets the flashback story seep through the screen in its good time. However, he does plant along the way plenty of details that may seem a little strange but make perfect sense as the story unfolds. The best example is at the very beginning. Joe (Ewan McGregor) and his employer Les (Peter Mullan) fish a woman's dead body form the Glasgow-Edinburgh canal which their barge is working. In the same evening, when they are having supper in the cabin with Les' wife Ella (Tilda Swinton) and little boy, Les asks Joe if he thinks that it's murder. Joe breaks out into an almost poetic description of what he thinks has happened, that the woman committed suicide. This near-monologue is totally out of character with lowly barge hand Joe, until two things are revealed later: Joe the writer (or his aspiration to be one), and his relationship with the dead woman.Not only the past, but even the present, is revealed ever so gradually. As the sexual liaison between Joe and Ella develops, we are under the impression that Ella is very much of an abused (though not physically or violently) wife totally under the control of her husband. It isn't until Les confronting Joe on the deck that we see an unexpected turn of events, with Les' short, crisp announcement of 'It's her barge'. Although Les has never been exactly a model husband, it turns out that Ella is the real boss, in a very literal sense. We now see the tough side of Ella. When Les packs his things and leaves, wondering when he can see his son who is now at boarding school, we can't help but feel a little sympathy for him.The film is certainly not made to please the mainstream audience. First, on the practical side, it does not care about political correctness, and shows cigarette smoking scenes in abundance. The film is shot with a general tone of depressing gloominess, with a few well placed out-focused scenes, the most noticeable being the ending scene with Joe walking away from the river. Yet, there is a melancholic beauty in the sometimes grainy photography. At the very beginning, the long-range shot of the dock and background scenery is so beautifully framed that it can easily win a price at a photography contest. Equally melancholic is the general use of the cello in background music. Sound off is not used that much. In fact I only recall one, the sound of buses and other street vehicles, cutting from Joe with Ella in bed at the cabin of the barge to a flashback of a busy street scene of his re-encounter with his ex-girlfriend Cathie (Emily Mortimer). The motif of the hand mirror inscribed with loving words from Cathie to Joe is, however, slightly over-used.As to my summary line, all of the more subtle exchanges in the film are made in silence, rather than with dialogue. The two best examples are of course Joe's seduction of Ella and his first encounter with Cathy (in that order in the film, but in reverse order chronologically). There is of course dialogue but by the time it gets to the dialogue, the parties have already established an understanding beyond words.One reviewer makes an insightful comparison of Joe to Camus' Outsider. Indeed, rather than being portrayed as an irresponsible libertine, Joe is shown as a confused outsider, often driven by his own physical desire, but not entirely without sensibility. This persona is echoed by the title Young Adam, still young but post-Garden of Eden, tossed into a cheerless world and doomed to an endless exile. The acting is first class all around. McGreagor shows that he is made of sterner stuff than needed for a light-sabre-happy Obi-wan Kenobi or a love-sick Christian. Swinton works the layers of Ella amazingly well, first the passive, guilt-troubled wife (particularly at the second liaison when Joe breaks the lamp) then the liberated woman temporarily carried away with ideas of divorce and remarriage, and finally very quickly coming down to earth again. More easily overlooked is Mullan playing the cockolded husband, maybe not to the stupendous height of the gentleman at Camelot, but with his own grass-root poignancy. Mortimer's role may not be as demanding as the other three's, but her competent portrayal of Cathie's endearing young charm is quite necessary to make Joe's subsequent remorse convincing.Young Adam is not for everybody, but definitely a marvellous cinematic experience to those with the capacity to appreciate.
A beautifully shot, atmospheric portrayal of reality.
posted on 28 Dec 2008Young Adam is a film which completely expels the whole glamour of any film making. Set on the dreary canals of Scotland, Mackenzie captures the atmosphere of mundane reality and male desire. I actually felt that i was in the barge with them at one point with the continuous creaking and claustraphobic proxemity. The excellent camera work instills a true sense of voyeurism and the acting (although a tiny bit wooden at times)reflects the whole nature of this narrative. If viewers are offended by Joe's misogynistic treatment of the women featured in this film then they should get into the real world or maybe stick to watching a 'feel-good' mainstream Hollywood blockbuster which paints the world in a very different light to this excellent British offering.
Grim and Joyless (And who the heck is Young Adam?)
posted on 24 Nov 2008My friends and I disagree on this one.What a dry, dour, charmless film is "Young Adam." The story is bleak the characters, almost all of them, despicable are utterly impossible to route for. Tilda Swinton, an actress I normally find attractive, is here, as Ella, a ghastly, tough, worn out creature and a bit of a shrew but mostly haggish.Joe, as portrayed by Ewan McGregor (one of my favorite actors) gives his all as a too young to be this world weary, callow man who, having given up his dreams and fantasies of a better life, aimlessly goes through life, with no honor or self respect. For a bit of adventure he bangs nearly every woman in sight. In fact, a betting game can be played whenever a new female character is introduced as to how many minutes before we're having to see their contorted naked bodies going at it.Bargemates Joe and Les's (an excellent performance by multi talented actor/writer/director Peter Mullan, who's "Orphans" is one of the best things from Scotland in ages) discovery of a dead girl at the film's start, unravels the story in achingly slow fashion and paints an increasingly disturbing picture of Joe. One always wants to route for a film's hero but "Young Adam" doesn't have one. The lead character has nothing redeemable about him and it's depressing to watch a film where not a single shred of hope or decency can break through the grim, gray bleakness.If you like this sort of thing, you'll love "Young Adam" - as for me, I hated it - something I rarely say about any film. Even the beauty of the way the film was shot (it is visually brilliant) couldn't save this for me. Blech.
Would be happier if I didn't see this movie
posted on 02 Nov 2008I was so looking forward to renting this movie after missing it in the theater, especially to see another fine performance by Tilda Swinton. Swinton delivered, and other elements of the film were sophisticated and noteworthy, however, I could have lived my whole life and not seen this movie. I watched it last night and even after a good night's sleep, coffee, a walk, breakfast, a trip to the YMCA, and checking my email, I still am experiencing the remnants of this movie, like a nasty taste in my mouth.The main character is reprehensible, bordering on sociopathic, but somehow vapidly so, dull to the point of exhaustion. I'm struck by others' assertion that there is any depth to this character. Also interesting was another reviewer's belief that Joe was a struggling writer. The only thing related to writing that Joe did was pose as a writer in order to manipulate one of his many victims. The shallowness of Joe's character may be due to the acting, may be due to the writing. I don't know enough about either the writer of the original novel or Ewan Macgregor to know.The potential for character complexity is in the perplexing responses of all the other characters to Joe's self-centered and moron posing as an intellectual personality. It's never quite clear why most of the characters would involve themselves at all with him, and some of the acting manages to suggest that deeper reasons exist, complicated, dark, and loaded with history. This all came through Tilda Swinton's performance, for example. A much better story would have come from focusing more on these peripheral depths and less on the hollow log in the center of the story.The film itself was beautiful, in terms of the visuals, and the clausterphopic effect of the narrow tunnels, waterways, and living spaces the characters inhabited. All that said, I wouldn't recommend seeing the movie if you don't want to feel like crap the next day, and not the kind of "Schindler's List" or "The Pianist" feeling like crap for a good reason. More like a shallow, gratuitous crap, the kind you feel after watching car commercials or "Faces of Death" videos.
A film that disappointed me with a tenuous story line.
posted on 25 Oct 2008The film had a story line which consisted of one sexual intercourse to another. The director seemed to have a particular liking for the sexual scenes being seen through cracks in the wall. This did not detract from some very fine acting, in particular, Tilda Swinton. Her portrayal of a world weary and caring mother was the highlight of the film. The role played by Ewen McGregor, although reasonably acted ,did not stretch his, already proved, ability. I would suggest that the requirement to look moody and simulate the sex act was not really his forte. The majority of the action takes place on a canal barge and the director managed to convey the claustrophobic atmosphere to perfection. It was not a film to see if you wanted an entertaining evening.
A measure of guilt
posted on 17 Oct 2008This film is based on the novel by Alexander Trocchi and those that have read it may find more insight to certain scenes while others may consider this a let down but my own personal view is that it's an interesting film about cynical characters that still feel guilt about their own actions. Story takes place in the early 1960's in Scotland where we see three characters and a small boy living and working on a river barge. Joe Taylor (Ewan McGregor) works for Les Gault (Peter Mullan) who's married to Ella (Tilda Swinton) and they work and live on their barge Atlantic Eve going back and forth from Edinburgh to Glasgow. One day Joe and Les fish the body of a woman out of the river and call the police who take her away but the authorities have a difficult time figuring out who she is and how she ended up in the river. *****SPOILER ALERT*****Joe and Ella start an affair but it doesn't take long before Les finds out and since the barge is owned by Ella it's Les who moves out but while all this is going on the police have found out that the woman in the river has been identified and was dating a married plummer who is now on trial for murder. What everyone doesn't know is that Joe knows the woman and her name is Cathie (Emily Mortimer) and he knows how she died but he doesn't tell anyone the circumstances that could free the man on trial.Directed by David Mackenzie this intriguing little film is reminiscent of the film noir efforts of the 1940's and 1950's although with all the sex and nudity it's certainly one that is played for modern art house audiences. The cast is exceptional and both McGregor and Swinton have built their impressive careers by being able to play such diverse roles and this is no exception. Mullan with his terrific face is one of those great characters actors who never gives a bad performance and he appears born to play a tough guy who works on a river barge. On the surface the story for this film has it's characters behaving like cold hearted cynics incapable of any type of sorrow or pity for others but if you take a good look what this film really is about is unrelenting guilt. Joe does feel guilt for his actions and Ella for her husband Les and the three of them are compelled by the trial of the plummer. Even though their guilt is stemmed for different reasons it seems to bring them to the same place but the film shows that not everyone acts out on their guilt for moral reasons. It's a hard story about tough skinned characters who seem at odds about their morality and that's what makes this film so intriguing.
An Exploration of People at their Dull Worst
posted on 11 Oct 2008The movie has great cinematography and uses the camera to create an excellent sense of the claustrophobic atmosphere that seems to dominate the characters psychologically as well as physically. And the acting, particularly on the part of Tilda Swinton, is excellent. Beyond that, it's a dull movie, unless the exploration of fairly boring characters trying to relieve their own frustration with their boring lives is one that particularly resonates with you as a viewer. Their only motivations seem to be trying to break out of their frustration and seeing how far and how effectively to wield power -- and that isn't a particularly interesting existence unless you are very caught up in a Nietzschian world-view and think that is all there is to life. There is only one instance of selflessness -- our anti-hero saves a child from drowning and the child's mother is happy about it. And even that, we learn, might not be so much a matter of selflessness as a kind of repentance for having not saved someone else from drowning earlier in his life. Still, an act of atonement is a psychological achievement for a movie so dedicated to exploring the gritty side of human nature that its characters seem to have nothing to them beyond boredom and power and guilt. They become tiresome. Who cares what happens to Joe? He's barely three dimensional. As little as I liked the film, I have to disagree with those who commented that the sexually explicit material was unnecessary -- on the contrary, it was essential to the point of the film. Lots of gritty sex as a way of trying to escape boredom and claustrophobia -- no beauty to it, not much joy, no-one really having much fun -- if that is the point of the film, the sex really does drive it home well. But, like everything else in the movie, the sex gets boring. Though I kind of understood it. After an hour and a half watching a boring and limited film about boring and limited people frustrated with the boredom of their own boring and limited lives, I completely sympathized with Ella. I was deeply frustrated, but as a responsible citizen, I had to keep it bottled up, though I wanted to do something, anything, to get out. I would have engaged in pointless and joyless sex with the pretentious guy with the goatee in the seat behind me just to break the monotony, but fortunately I was fortified with Twizzlers before the film. So I munched on Twizzlers and gazed longingly at the Exit sign.
TEDIOUS
posted on 20 Aug 2008Ewan McGregor and his large penis star in yet another movie about a drifter with secrets. McGregor and other soulless actors have played roles like this before, right - the rebel etc? So sorry that Tilda Swinton (who was fantastic in FEMALE PERVERSIONS and THE DEEP END) and Emily Mortimar (great great great! in LOVELY AND AMAZING) wasted their time in this film, though she demonstrated her usual insight into her characters. McGregor has explicit sex in various positions with four women and it's just embarrassing to watch - there's no point in it, no forwarding of the plot, so why bother? David Byrne's musical score is interesting, at least. If you're suffering from insomnia one night, this film might be the perfect antidote.
Pretty pointless, really
posted on 16 Aug 2008A fair amount of unmotivated, unappetizing and joyless sex, and much squalor. Not especially interesting squalor, either. We don't gain much insight into the lead character, other than that women can't resist him and he's single-handedly sustaining the share price for tobacco firms. Why does he do what he does? Why doesn't he do what he doesn't? Who the hell knows.
It's difficult to make a passive character interesting. They didn't succeed here.Maybe the editing left out some crucial connective tissue. Some major lessons: the industrial revolution did not succeed in bringing Scotland out of the middle ages.
Decent
posted on 16 Aug 2008Young Adam (2003)** 1/2 (out of 4) A woman's dead body is pulled from a river and this here leads to various events coming forward. A young drifter (Ewan McGregor) is working for a barge owner (Peter Mullan) and his unhappy wife (Tilda Swinton) when they pull the body out. Soon afterwards the drifter starts an affair with the wife but he might be holding back secrets on what he knows about the body. This film caused a minor sensation when originally released because of its NC-17 rating due to countless sexual acts. The film was eventually cut back to an R-rating after a scene where McGregor goes down on Swinton was cut out, which just shows the double sided nature of the MPAA. With that said, I really didn't find too much going for this movie outside the excellent performances from the three leads. The actors are the main reason to see this film as I felt the story wasn't as strong as it thought it was. The movie is basically telling two separate stories with one dealing with McGregor and Swinton and the other dealing with McGregor's relationship with the dead woman. No matter which story you're viewing you are going to get a lot of sex scenes. It seems the director was wanting to cause trouble because sex scenes come up at any chance they get with various numbers of women taking their clothes off. Even McGregor has a full front scene. I'm really not sure if there was a point in all these sex scenes because they're not erotic and they really don't add too much to the film. The film also tries to play out as some sort of mystery but there's never anything mysterious going on as it's pretty clear how everything is going to end up. McGregor turns in a tremendous performance as the young drifter who has his conscience troubling him when another man gets charged with murder. Swinton is also very good in a quiet and calm way. The two of them work very well together and they make the film work a lot better than it should have.
A different Ewan McGregor
posted on 13 Aug 2009It's the film with the most perfect match with the soundtrack I've seen. One of the few films I couldn't imagine without, indeed. The music is not just beautiful, but also as strident as the pictures and the streams of Joe's thoughts. One of the song titles ("mnemonic discordance") gives the idea perfectly.You can't say it's a beautiful movie just because the story is not beautiful, and though it's beautifully acted and written.The story wouldn't need an exact time frame (it's not science fiction, it's not history, it's not a costume movie), but of course it needs to happen some time, and probably having put this enough back in time (clearly before the death penalty by hanging was discontinued in UK, in 1964) just adds some pathos.One curiosity: it's the second time I see Ewan McGregor in front of an old typewriter. The first was in Moulin Rouge.