Romance films capture the heartstrings and sometimes even include a comical outlet, but “Monday” is not your typical love story. Directed by Argyris Papadimitropoulos, “Monday” tackles the complex subjects of an adult relationship and focuses more on life situations than romance. “Monday” was released on April 16 and is available to watch in theaters and on Prime Video.
This film explores themes of drugs, sex and music as two lovers attempt to create a life together. Sebastian Stan as Mickey and Denise Gough as Chloe suck up their pride and give us incredibly intimate performances. Every other scene includes vulnerability through no clothing or small intimate moments with the two main characters. Known for his role as the Winter Soldier in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Stan breaks away from this superhero mold and showcases his ability to strip everything, clothes included, and grasp his character’s personality.
Without a doubt, Gough carries the film. Through her performance, Gough shows strength and courage in taking risks, making the story come to life. Even though the film lacks variety, Gough’s performance is not. The repetitiveness in the film derives from the situations that arise for the characters. It feels as though they are getting beaten by the tidal wave called life. Stan and Gough try to make the relationship between their characters work, which helps sell the fact that their characters are utterly wrong for each other.
The music throughout the film also supports this idea of “they are not right for each other.” Sensations of freedom, aspiration, sadness and confusion come from the music in contrast to sappy romantic songs. This use of music is clever in hiding the idea that these people are not meant for each other and breaks up these scenes to keep the film well-paced.
“Monday” skips over the build-up of the characters’ relationship and goes straight to the honeymoon phase, which presents the characters having passionate sex in random places like the beach and the back of an old truck. This film gets nasty, situation-wise. It grabs hold of those real-world situations that complicate both characters’ lives, pushing the audience to view uncomfortable situations.
Although it’s set in Greece, the film lacks exciting settings. It shows more of a local’s perspective on the life of the characters rather than the beauty of Greece. This could be more of a correlation with the idea that the characters are trying to make a life for themselves as one in Greece, but it is pretty disappointing the audience doesn’t get to see the whole environment.
This film was an interesting watch, but there wasn’t anything that particularly stuck out and it wasn’t super fascinating either. Overall, “Monday” includes excellent pros, but there should have been more to excite the audience. Stan and Gough are the main reason this film is what it is, and creatively, the director has done a fine job. Papadimitropoulos challenged the romantic genre, but he just might have gone overboard.