Episode 307: AMERICAN PSYCHO (2000)

Trylove

Bret Easton Ellis’s original novel featured vivid descriptions of depraved acts, but Mary Harron’s film adaptation of AMERICAN PSYCHO has a slithering unctuousness all its own. Christian Bale is Patrick Bateman, a Wall Street VP by day and a murderer at large by night. Problem is, those two things don't stay separate for long.

Despite the heft of its subject matter and the “unfilmability” of its source material, its 2000 release garnered critical acclaim rivaled only by its cultural divisiveness: Women’s advocacy groups took particular umbrage with the film’s portrayal of extreme violence against women.

In this episode, we reflect on AMERICAN PSYCHO with years (or mere days) of perspective, marvel at how a movie like this even “works,” compare its narrative tools to those of the book, and wonder what gets lost in the gulfs between what people say and what people hear.

**References: **

• Give to the Trylon’s Film Forever Fund so they never have to increase ticket prices!
• “Nyah! I Have to Return Some Videotapes, Doc.” by Lucas Hardwicke for Perisphere, the Trylon blog
• “Guinevere Turner, American Psycho, and the Effective Distance of Lesbian Cool” by Sophie Durbin for Perisphere, the Trylon blog
• Check the calendar, preview upcoming series, and buy tickets at https://www.trylon.org/
• Contribute to Perisphere, the Trylon blog: https://www.perisphere.org/perisphere-blog-post-guidelines/

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Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: "Suicide" by John Cale from the AMERICAN PSYCHO soundtrack.

Timestamps

0:00 - Episode 307: AMERICAN PSYCHO (2000)

3:20 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary

5:46 - First watch thoughts and the “one-dimensionality” of AMERICAN PSYCHO

9:55 - How the “unfilmable” film goes down this smoothly

25:36 - The space for interpretation left open by Bateman’s mixed reality

32:41 - The narrative effect of a movie where nobody’s paying attention to anything

38:08 - Jean

48:15 - Is Patrick the LEAST psychopathic person in his world?

57:18 - Reagan, self-awareness, and LinkedIn

1:02:22 - The Junk Drawer (Bale, Dafoe, and the business card scene)

1:12:02 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 2000

1:14:24 - Cody’s Noteys: Trylove Movie Draft (roster-building with films from the year 2000)