I watched “Ellen” and I absolutely despise Joe Dempsie for making a pedophile charming. But I guess that’s what makes it so insidious. He’s not some creep with a van. He’s an attractive young guy grooming a girl when she’s in need of a friend. The horrible part is that at first he really does seem like the friend she needs as he helps her cope with her family life and the death of her grandma. When Ellen makes her crush obvious at first he seems to try to set up boundaries. He’s like that older brotherly figure protecting Ellen from her fucked up family.
Also, the fact that it was Jessica Bardem!!! Fuck. I have a huge crush on her. I wish I could’ve seen any other movie with the two of them as love interests because they both ooze so much charm and their chemistry would be insane. Their actual ages during this movie were 28 and 23, but Jessica has that Maisie Williams babyface, so she was very believable as a 14 yo.
Fuck Joe Dempsie for making me watch his weird movies. Why can’t he just do a normal romantic role where he doesn’t die, get rejected, or have a deeply fucked up relationship. They always pair him up with actresses that I have a huge crush on as well. Like honorary milf extraordinaire Ruth Wilson. So my little bi heart gets excited by the potential only to be instantly crushed by how weird and fucked up their relationship is. It’s like they know how to hurt me lmao.
I may be forgetting a few, but I think the only ok-ish romances he’s had were Gendry and Arya, Harry and Leyla, and Chris and Jal. Though they’re still fucked up in their own ways, with rejection or murder or death.
