Peggy would like her son to settle down with a nice fella before her cancer catches up with her. So she doesn’t complain when Colin goes out on a date on Christmas night. Probably best she never realises about the festive fellatio out the back of Primark that marks the beginning of her sweet Colin learning about his love of submission over dominance. Soon he’s wearing a padlock and chain around his neck while the sullen and mysterious Ray keeps the key on his own finer necklace.
Screenwriter and director Harry Lighton walks a tightrope of portrayal in
Pillion. Colin (Harry Melling) works as a traffic war and performs in a barbershop quartet. He’s made out to be square and boring, although never in a cartoonish manner. But it contributes to making Colin’s willing exploration of BDSM so much more shocking.
Alexander Skarsgård’s Ray is tall, rugged, aggressive and a man of few words. Adopting a domineering attitude towards Colin isn’t an act of roleplay. It’s real, dismissive and reeks of coercive control. (Adam Mars-Jones’ original novel Box Hill is apparently even more troubled at the start of their kink-driven situationship.) Ray stubbornly remains an enigma wrapped in a mystery wrapped in biking leathers.
Ultimately,
Pillion becomes dark love story – a ‘dom-com’ according to some reviews – about Colin’s understanding of what brings him pleasure (does he really have “an aptitude for obedience”?), and the audience being forced to decide whether there’s a willing or unwilling power imbalance in this degrading relationship. When Ray finally comes over for Sunday dinner with Colin’s family, Peggy makes it quite clear whose side she’s on!
Lighton’s extraordinary directorial debut finds room for laughter alongside the abuse. Skarsgård and Melling achieve an on-screen intensity that sizzles. Watch out for a memorable prosthetic with a ‘Prince Albert’ piercing. A final rendition of Smile Though Your Heart is Breaking neatly mirrors the tuneful opening scene and helps the audience escape from the bondage back into a less fraught world.
Pillion is being screened in the Queen’s Film Theatre. Amazingly, it’s also playing in Cineworld Belfast and some Omniplex cinemas.
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