The Invitation (2015)

Day 42 of Sobriety.

Not to be confused with the 2022 film of the same name, this film by Karyn Kusama is about a divorced man named Will who attends a dinner party thrown by his ex-wife, Eden, and her new partner after her return from a two-year sojourn in Mexico. Will and Eden have a troubled past, and old trauma reemerges during the party, along with other shocking revelations.

This is my second time to watch The Invitation. I remembered it being excellent, and it is. Much of the film’s power comes from the way things—about both the past and the present—are gradually revealed, so the less viewers know about it going in, the better. Even on second viewing, however, it was a powerful and atmospheric experience.

The couple’s shared bereavement and loss, and the effect that has on them—both as a couple and as individuals—is a major theme of the movie, and, in that respect, it reminded me a lot of Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now (1973), although the setting of 2015 Hollywood couldn’t be more different from early 70s Venice. For a significant portion of its running time, the film plays out like a heavy psychological drama, perhaps in the vein of Ingmar Bergman. There are no supernatural elements in the film—the horror is all human-wrought, but a growing sense of unease explodes into some major shocks by the end.

 

The night I watched it marked the end of my sixth week sober, and it was interesting to see the way that alcohol was portrayed throughout the film—as a social lubricant, and as a symbol of celebration, inclusion, and status.