Besides some of the plot holes that I still can't figure out, I was rather captivated by The Dying Gaul. For the love of God, someone give Peter Sarsgaard an Oscar already if not for this movie, then just for everything he's ever done. Sarsgaard effortlessly steals every scene he's in! In The Dying Gaul he plays Robert, a gay screenwriter who is still mourning the death of his lover, Malcolm. He still sleeps with Malcolm's pajamas and puts them back into a Ziploc baggie at the end of each night. Robert writes a script based on Malcolm's slow and painful death and calls it The Dying Gaul.
Jeffrey (Campbell Scott) is a big time Hollywood producer who wants to make Robert's film on the condition that Robert writes out all of the homosexual content. Jeffrey tells him, "Most Americans hate gay people, wouldn't you agree?" The irony is that Jeffrey is attracted to Robert and starts an affair with him, behind his wife's back. It gets more bizarre when Jeffrey's wife, Elaine (Patricia Clarkson), becomes obsessed with Robert. When she learns that her husband is sleeping with Robert, all hell breaks loose literally. The depth that these characters go to in order to punish and torture each other is evil incarnate! The Dying Gaul is hard to follow at times, but it's brilliant, painful, shocking, and Sarsgaard deserves a damn Oscar already!
Jeffrey (Campbell Scott) is a big time Hollywood producer who wants to make Robert's film on the condition that Robert writes out all of the homosexual content. Jeffrey tells him, "Most Americans hate gay people, wouldn't you agree?" The irony is that Jeffrey is attracted to Robert and starts an affair with him, behind his wife's back. It gets more bizarre when Jeffrey's wife, Elaine (Patricia Clarkson), becomes obsessed with Robert. When she learns that her husband is sleeping with Robert, all hell breaks loose literally. The depth that these characters go to in order to punish and torture each other is evil incarnate! The Dying Gaul is hard to follow at times, but it's brilliant, painful, shocking, and Sarsgaard deserves a damn Oscar already!