GUILTY PLEASURE

Philippines, 2024, 119 minutes, Colour.

Lovi Poe, JM De Guzman, Jameson Blake, Sarah Edwards, Dustin Yu Angelica Lao.

Directed by Connie Macatuno.

While this is a film set in the Philippines, it could have taken place anywhere. The style is of the popular glossy drama, and more than a touch of soap opera. It has been produced by its star, Lovi Poe, with the help of her American husband who is a film producer. In fact, with this style, settings, characters, issues, it is very American. The writer and the director are both Filipino women.

The settings are affluent, as are the characters. There are quite lavish homes. There are lavish offices. There are court scenes. Most of the action takes place in the settings – with an opening as well as a conclusion in a sex club with a dominatrix.

At the centre is a successful lawyer, Alexis, tall, with a confident swagger, succeeding in court, but some tension when she is approached by another lawyer, Adam, making improper advances in an elevator.

Initial setting is 2024 and a court case proceeding throughout the film, to influencers in the public eye, one accusing the other of rape. They approach Alexis for the defence of the accused.

But, throughout the film, there are continuous returns to 2017 and 2018, with Alexis’s story, her father in prison, a law student, working in a reputable firm, the encounter with Adam, an affair which is secret. And his raping her, but her not revealing it to anyone. And he is definitely a two-timer, suddenly revealing that he is engaged to the daughter, a presumptuous young woman, of the boss of the law firm. In the meantime, an aspiring young lawyer, Matt, is attached to the firm and coached by Alexis. This is all shown by gradual revelation.

In 2024, Alexis is very successful with her own firm, Adam is still working with his father-in-law and Matt has now become part of that firm. The victim of the alleged rape goes to that company for the prosecution.

With a background from the past, and Matt and Alexis beginning a relationship even though they are on opposite sides in the court, there are complications with the trial, a witness for the prosecution disappearing, Alexis working with her eager and conscientious staff.

Audiences, of course, are sympathising with the victims of rape, finding the rapists, especially the young influencer, intolerably self-important and self-conscious, and our waiting and hoping for some comeuppance. For a while, it seems that this is not going to happen, but there is a surprise twist, a return to the opening sequence in the sex club, final revelations and humiliations – and a happy ending for Alexis, Matt – and the audience who enjoy this kind of soap-opera drama.