Light Sleeper (1992)
“Light Sleeper” is a movie about the daily life of a drug dealer named John LeTour. LeTour was a former addict who seems miserable and lonely while delivering drugs to users. Although he was able to overcome his addiction, he suffers from insomnia, according to what he writes in his diary. LeTour’s conscious plays an important role on him mastering his control over his addiction. He reexamines his profession and his life after discovering that his supplier, Ann, is planning to quit the business. Meanwhile, encountering his Ex, Marianne, who happened to leave him, is another reason why he wants to change his life for the better. Additionally, the movie goes through a series of drug related murders that made the police consider LeTour a suspect.
In the opening scene, the camera captures the dark, dirty streets of Manhattan from a distance, showing LeTour selling drugs to his clients. He never discussed in that scene where he heads, yet the camera captured his actions. When LeTour goes to see his first client, the camera is shooting from a distance showing him talking to a man. Then, the guy goes outside with him, and he hands him the drugs. In that scene, the camera made the scene look so calm and it also made the selling drug part not detectable. As both men behaved in a quick manner, were quiet and friendly with one another. The music that came with that scene was both calming and powerful. It had a great sound effect, which helped direct the audience and provided recognition to the upcoming events in the story. When LeTour sees his ex-again, their dialogs clearly indicate they were both addicts. Her behavior is consistent with her dialog. She seems to be afraid of him. By keeping a distance, her body keeps moving away from him, because she has been clean for five years. Their emotions and love for one another however is well shown through camera work. When LeTour tells Marianne that he quit using drugs and dealing, she does not believe him. She then gets off the car, and the audience would see his point of view. After seeing LeTour and Marianne meeting again, one could assume that they are not over each other yet. This set the tone for predictability for their future meetings.
When LeTour is at his home, the audience sees his small apartment, and the mattress that he sleeps on. The room is practically empty. He wants to change his lifestyle, be valuable and productive. However, he doesn’t have enough money to start over. His financial situation is not an obvious part of the plot, as throughout the movie, we see no details about it whatsoever. Yet, it is clear that he was struggling financially, due to where and how he lived, as well as the way he dressed.
LeTour decides to see a psychic, and she tells him that she sees death around him, and a woman betraying him. The music that came with that scene was chilling. Due to the dramatic music associated with this scene, it made me believe that LeTour was going to die. It was quite surprising to find out that it was not the case. When LeTour accidently kept running into his ex, they ended up having sex, and she then left him again as she was afraid of going back to her old habits. When Marianne’s mother died, she blamed LeTour and herself for not being present when her mother died. She clearly was upset and devastated. This eventually led her back to drugs and she ended up dying.
My favorite scene in this movie was when LeTour and his supplier Ann go to meet the client, that LeTour believed was associated with Marianne’s death. I thought that Ann was going to betray him. However, her behavior and facial expressions indicated the opposite. LeTour himself suspected that she was the woman that the psychic talked about. He never expressed his concerns about Ann, however his behavior clearly showed he didn’t trust her. When Ann and LeTour arrived to the client’s place, they instructed her to leave. She left, but not without helping him. Ann was loyal to LeTour, and her quick thinking saved his life. In the last scene, LeTour went to prison, and Ann stayed loyal to him again. She came to visit him, and their dialog indicated they had feelings for each other. The movie ended with him holding her hand, and the camera captured him up-close.
In the end, I feel this movie resembled real life situations in many ways. LeTour genuinely wanted to quit dealing and restart his life, yet, it seemed he never put a real effort into making that happen, as he was too preoccupied by planning and thinking of a perfect way to do so. According to Roger Ebert, “People are left with selling the drugs, because the money is easy, and it is the only life they know.” Once involved, it is very difficult to stay away from similar situations. People can die, kill or be murdered. LeTour however, survived and even though he is in prison, to him that’s better than his old life. I always thought to myself, why do people become involved with drugs. And Schrader answered my question, “Like so many people of their age, they got into the drug business because it was fun. All the hip people were doing it.”
References
-https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/light-sleeper-1992
-http://filmmakermagazine.com/archives/issues/fall1992/movie_high.php#.WmdyozdG1hE
-https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/light-sleeper-1992
-http://filmmakermagazine.com/archives/issues/fall1992/movie_high.php#.WmdyozdG1hE