Five Valid Reasons for Murdering Lisa - clip
"Five Valid Reasons for Murdering Lisa" is a provocative, urbane black comedy that explores the roots of misogyny, and provides us with an absurdist road map of a male mind. In this day and age, the news of a man murdering his spouse is commonplace. The alarming statistics regarding domestic abuse is chilling. The fact that a wifeÂ’s murder is more likely to be perpetrated by her husband than by a stranger is part of the fabric of our society; and we accept this fact without blinking. The action of the film takes place in an upscale New York loft, with the knifed Lisa lying prone on the chaise longue throughout the piece. There are a series of flashbacks and cutaways that help flesh out the characters. The original musical score adds to the contemporary ambiance. We find our hero, Les, inexplicably giddy with his apparent homicide, even composing music to celebrate it, having stabbed in the back the woman he loved. His giddiness may be related to the freedom he feels in divulging his thoughts and feelings about his wife, Lisa, for the first time. While he is confessing to himself and to the audience, he is free from having to confront Lisa. He has a compulsion to explain the reasons for the murder, breaking them down in an analytic manner. His "valid" reasons include obsession, adoration, jealousy, and conspiracy. As the story moves along, we learn that Lisa has not done anything wrong; on the contrary, it is just her sensitive, graceful qualities that are a source of admiration and wonderment for him for which he cannot forgive her. Les, despite a desperate effort to appear sophisticated, betrays a body of primitive beliefs and feelings that can only be described as infantile. He is ranting about everything any newborn would express if he had the words. We can only hope that by becoming aware of our primal expressions we might move forward towards a true humanity.