Concussion (2013)

Directed by: Stacie Passon
Country: USA

Movie Review: Despite the ambition showed in “Concussion”, Stacie Passon’s debut as a writer and director wasn’t totally satisfying. Well performed by Robin Weigert, the plot follows Abby, an unsatisfied lesbian who, for a while, decided to stay away from her wife, children, and work and become an escort for women. This urge came suddenly after she was hit accidentally by her son when he was playing baseball, suffering a concussion on her head. Under the name of Eleanor and charging eight hundred dollars per appointment, she will meet many peculiar women and act accordingly to their needs. The list includes a fat teenager with no experience, an impetuous woman who knows what she wants, a scared one who tries to escape, a woman from her hometown who was more experienced than she was, and a violent one with whom she wasn’t so comfortable. This hidden life of sensuality and pleasure brought both good and bad surprises. Sex is addressed freely and the necessity for new sexual experiences seemed to make sense in Abby’s life, but maybe I expected more from this story whose conclusions didn’t make me more responsive than I was at the beginning. I believe that with a bit more humor and less love scenes wrapped in white bedsheets, the film would have gained another impact. Without being misdirected, it lacked something in the plot to surprise and make us feel more involved in Abby’s world of pleasure. “Concussion” won the Teddy jury prize at Berlin Film Festival.