Trust opens with a stereotypical ignorant high school girl named Maria making petty demands of her parents and deliberately scandalizing them by explaining her future plans which involve marrying her jock boyfriend. She explains that he'll have to because she's pregnant and then leaves before she has a chance to realize that the news has caused her father to have a heart attack.
Since she does leave we have a while longer to become familiar with her before her perfect world begins to crumble around her. She carelessly goes clothes shopping during the day and only stops by the school she is supposed to be attending to talk to her boyfriend. He's more worried about the upcoming football game than anything she can tell him; news of her pregnancy only angers him and he makes it clear that he won't take care of the child. Things get progressively worse for her as she's kicked out of her house, has a conversation with an insane woman, and is nearly raped before retreating to a quiet street where she attempts to drown her sorrow in a six pack.
At this point Maria happens to meet Matthew, a gifted machinist who is so unsatisfied with his foolish employers and demanding father that he has developed a nasty violent streak. This initially seems to be an excellent match as the newly disillusioned Maria has become just as averse to nonsense as Matthew. The two slowly get to know each other and each one realizes that the other satisfies an innate desire that has previously gone unmet. Unfortunately circumstances keep arising to drive them apart and Matthew puts his trust in the wrong people.
Writer/director Hal Hartley infuses this film with a uniquely cynical wit that meshes perfectly with the material to create a work that is at once funny and emotionally engaging. The film also is thematically satisfying in that it explores the attitudes of the characters and how those attitudes have been developed. Specifically, we see how the trust characters place in other people, particularly family members, is abused and subverted and how this has shaped various characters over time. Trust is one of those rare films that not only encapsulates a certain time and place but also presents some genuine truths about human behavior and offers a consistently engaging viewing experience.
Since she does leave we have a while longer to become familiar with her before her perfect world begins to crumble around her. She carelessly goes clothes shopping during the day and only stops by the school she is supposed to be attending to talk to her boyfriend. He's more worried about the upcoming football game than anything she can tell him; news of her pregnancy only angers him and he makes it clear that he won't take care of the child. Things get progressively worse for her as she's kicked out of her house, has a conversation with an insane woman, and is nearly raped before retreating to a quiet street where she attempts to drown her sorrow in a six pack.
At this point Maria happens to meet Matthew, a gifted machinist who is so unsatisfied with his foolish employers and demanding father that he has developed a nasty violent streak. This initially seems to be an excellent match as the newly disillusioned Maria has become just as averse to nonsense as Matthew. The two slowly get to know each other and each one realizes that the other satisfies an innate desire that has previously gone unmet. Unfortunately circumstances keep arising to drive them apart and Matthew puts his trust in the wrong people.
Writer/director Hal Hartley infuses this film with a uniquely cynical wit that meshes perfectly with the material to create a work that is at once funny and emotionally engaging. The film also is thematically satisfying in that it explores the attitudes of the characters and how those attitudes have been developed. Specifically, we see how the trust characters place in other people, particularly family members, is abused and subverted and how this has shaped various characters over time. Trust is one of those rare films that not only encapsulates a certain time and place but also presents some genuine truths about human behavior and offers a consistently engaging viewing experience.