"Pretty Thing" , 2025

Review of the film ‘Pretty Thing’ — an erotic thriller starring Alicia Silverstone

“Anora” meets ‘Bad Girl’.

Successful businesswoman Sophie (Alicia Silverstone) meets attractive waiter Elliot (Karl Glusman) in a bar, and their encounter leads to a passionate night in a hotel room. Both are eager for more. Elliot is drawn to the woman's sexual freedom, while Sophie is captivated by his handsome physique. On their second date, she rashly invites him to Paris, without even thinking about how this spontaneous romantic trip will affect Elliot. He no longer wants to be a simple waiter; now Elliot intends to become the lover of a rich lady who will give him love, attention, and a comfortable and stable life. Alas, Sophie resists any attempt by Elliot to become emotionally intimate: she does not want to socialise with his friends, limiting herself to sex and short conversations.

In the end, Sophie breaks off the relationship, which has begun to go beyond the bedroom. Elliot doesn't like this. He is determined to get Sophie back and the relationship she could give him, no matter what.

In recent years, the erotic thriller genre, which had been slowly dying since the early 2000s, has been experiencing something of a renaissance. More and more films are being released that focus on the sexual relationship between men and women (Stop Word, Voyeurs, Deep Waters, Emmanuelle), the lion's share of which only confirms the absolute incompatibility of the genre with the chosen time. In the #MeToo era, the exploitation of female sexuality reaches its catharsis in body horror (Substance) or, at worst, sex comedies (No Offence, Anyone But You), but hardly ever in erotic thrillers.

Justin Kelly, director of Hot Stuff and author of the poignant drama My Name is Michael, picks up on the currently popular plot trope of a relationship between an older woman and a younger man (Forbidden Passion, My December, Bad Girl), playing out a classic story of codependent relationships that spiral out of control. Hot Stuff doesn't really work as an erotic thriller, and the film's ‘hot’ poster is nothing more than a marketing ploy. All the bed scenes are deliberately brief and chaste, without provocation or the currently popular full frontal nudity. Kelly is not interested in exploring physicality: sexual complexes and traumas are also overlooked. The characters' passionate encounters are merely a convenient springboard for a conversation on a much more pressing topic — emotional abuse. And if the first act of Hot Stuff resembles a languid melodrama, the second is a twisted psychological thriller. Elliot quickly transforms from a naively enamoured young man into a stalker-abuser who is unable to hear a simple female ‘no.’ The result is something like a dark version of Anora. Unlike the main character in Sean Baker's film, Elliot does not shy away from gaslighting, stalking and psychological terrorism, doing everything possible to bring the ‘golden ticket’ in the form of the rich and self-sufficient Sophie back into his life.

Credit where credit is due to Justin Kelly, his Hot Stuff is radically different from most similar thrillers, in which women are usually cast as passive victims. Hardened by the cruel world of capitalism, self-help books, and boxing lessons, Sophie does not fall apart and confidently fights back against her former lover every time. Her sharp mind, strong will, and confident right hook help her defend her right to a life free of abuse. Well known for her roles in youth comedies (The Dumb and the Dumber, ‘The Explosion from the Past’), Alicia Silverstone has rediscovered herself in recent years in the dark settings of thrillers (“Reptiles”) and horror films (‘Cursed Legacy’), none of which, however, have been able to give her career the coveted boost. ‘Hot Stuff’ is also unlikely to be a box office hit, but it will look good in Silverstone's filmography, as she has traded her image as a fashionable matchmaker for the role of a business shark.

In one scene of the film, Sophie triumphantly declares that she is a complete woman and does not need a ‘significant other.’ It remains unclear why such a self-confident heroine chooses partners who are a priori lower than her in social and cultural status. Karl Glusman's character seems much more understandable: at 30, he still lives with his elderly mother and seems completely incapable of independence. Ironically, neither Elliot nor Sophie are interested in potentially equal partners. So, do ‘soulmates’ come together after all? Even if not in the most romantic way.