I was kind of braced going into Pillion because I’d heard that this was about A Bad Relationship. Like it was so messy and toxic and under negotiated. And yeah, like it wasn’t verbally negotiated, and it does exhibit a lot of bad behavior, but I thought it ultimately worked! I thought a lot of it was very romantic!
The reason the relationship worked for me is that Ray is very consistent in his expectations. He treats Colin the same way from the very first time they hook up, and Colin generally retains the ability to walk away from the relationship if it stops working for him. Like they don’t have children or a joint banking account.
Some of the most tension that I felt in the movie was the first time when Colin serves Ray dinner and he doesn’t know where to sit, so he just freezes, because he’s too timid to ask for clear direction. That felt pretty unfair! but as we see them settle into their relationship, it seems like Colin develops security in the consistency. It’s awful that Ray didn’t explain the rules, but once Colin has figured out what the rules are, they seem pretty good to go.
