The Flaws and Clichés of 'Locked In'

As a director's debut feature film, "Locked In" doesn't display abysmal cinematography or scene coordination. However, for a writer who penned "Before I Go to Sleep," this new creation falls short. Despite multiple twists, nested stories, and attempts to provide reasonable background information within a limited framework, these designs fail to captivate. The issue lies in an oversaturation of similar storylines, akin to the writer's previous works such as "Before I Go to Sleep," "The Girl on the Train," and the once-popular film "Gone Girl." By the midpoint, viewers can predict the story's development and resolution, robbing "Locked In" of its potential to be a classic suspense film. Instead, it becomes a clichéd industrial product.

Nonetheless, even flawed films have analytical value. After analyzing the character development and plot, I discovered a highly conservative patriarchal moral view portrayed in this film. For those curious about what "Barbie" meant by "patriarchy hasn't disappeared, it's just become more concealed," this film provides a fitting example.

The existence of the holy woman demonstrates female purity and maternity, comforting male anxieties about uncontrollable reproduction. Katherine's adoption of the caregiver role primarily aims to alleviate her deceased father's societal concerns. Trapped within the estate, she portrays the scenario of a dead man whose wife remains widowed and selflessly nurtures and consoles the true inheritor of the estate, Jamie. Lina can be seen as Katherine's successor. Defined from childhood as Jamie's caregiver, she grows up to become Jamie's wife directly, continuing to undertake the responsibility of caring for and consoling Jamie. At this stage, they primarily serve as women soothing male societal/physiological/psychological anxieties, fitting the crudest division standards of patriarchy about women.

When Katherine and Lina attempt to break free from the role of the "holy woman," there are no viable options. Thus, Katherine and Lina's methods to cope with their miserable lives involve developing affairs with the family doctor, Lawrence. At this juncture, their affairs with Lawrence are viewed as betrayals of their "holy woman" identity and disloyalty to their husband and the patriarchal figure represented by him. Within the patriarchal narrative, such duplicity is inherently evil and subject to punishment. The film emphasizes the wickedness of these two relationships through two pivotal scenes. First, after Lina's rendezvous with Lawrence, she fails to promptly reach ailing Jamie, facing intense questioning and criticism from Jamie himself. Jamie attributes Lina's mother's early demise to her absence during moments of need, framing her extramarital affair as a highly unethical act of neglecting loved ones' lives, reinforcing her guilt over the affair. Second, when Lina discovers Katherine and Lawrence's romance on a rainy night, Lina runs through the dark paths of the estate, witnessing Katherine and Lawrence kissing near the gate through dense foliage. Viewers naturally adopt Lina's perspective, feeling shocked and outraged. Katherine's actions are successfully portrayed as adulterous and treacherous. However, if we detach from Lina's view, Katherine, a widow and single woman engaging in a romance with the family doctor Lawrence, is not inherently wrong; the real betrayal of emotions comes from Lawrence. Subsequently, Katherine, who suffers severe injuries, displays strong feelings of guilt.

Compared to Lina, Katherine faces harsher punishment. Delving deeper, we discover Katherine's punishment results from not only hurting Lina but also betraying her deceased husband, abandoning the maternal role entrusted to her by her late husband. This leads to another layer of truth in the film: although Jamie's father figure doesn't directly appear, his constraints and oppression of female characters persist even after his death. The lonely, isolated estate serves as a symbol of the authority left behind by the patriarch. Furthermore, the film illustrates how Katherine and Lina cannot escape their wretched, solitary lives due to the difficulty in relinquishing the estate's wealth and their responsibility for Jamie's care. Thus, through wealth and power, an absent father exercises control over women's lives, exhibiting his presence. Punishing the betraying women becomes another pathway for patriarchal self-assertion.

However, the film has details depict female subjectivity, attempting to draw the audience into the heroines' perspectives, countering the judgment from the orthodox patriarchal system. For instance, Lina is a physically strong woman, capable of diving into a lake on a cold winter night and swimming across, then sprinting at full speed upon reaching the shore. At the climax, she bravely fights Lawrence and eventually kills him. The film also showcases a form of female camaraderie, such as the story of Katherine and Lina's mother, Lina's admiration for Katherine, and even the nurse Nikcy's assistance to Lina. However, this camaraderie, portrayed with intense jealousy and competitive emotions, raises skepticism about whether it supports women in distress to escape their plight. This skepticism regarding female self-rescue and friendship is particularly evident in Lina's storyline.

Lina's prolonged mental anguish from tending to Jamie within the estate doesn't change through spontaneous awakening but rather through the arrival and inspiration of a new man. When she first flirts with Lawrence, he tells her, "There is a whole world out there; you can't hide out here forever." Lina's initial response is, "Can't I?" Yet, when Katherine advises the despondent Lina to leave the estate, Lina retorts, "Why should I?" Identical advice from a man is encouragement, while from a stepmother, it's cunning. Different attitudes towards Katherine and Lawrence display Lina's attachment to paternal authority. At this moment, Lawrence assumes the role of a new "father." Lina considers her affair with him a symbol of self-discovery, repeatedly expressing her earnestness to Lawrence, willing to do anything to escape. However, this path of escape is ultimately proven false. Lawrence murders Jamie and betrays Lina. Her betrayal of the old father (Jamie) plunges her into self-blame and guilt. In the end, although Katherine and Lina are alive, their futures remain uncertain. Lina faces legal scrutiny, while Katherine remains severely injured and disabled. They are both "Locked In" in their roles as "wives" and "mothers." Ultimately, Lina kills Lawrence by her hand—a return not so much as punishment for the betrayer but as a return to old family concepts and a return to the "holy woman" identity of daughter/wife.

This film ostensibly portrays a story about women, including depictions of female self-rescue and friendship. Nevertheless, their actions remain controlled by an antiquated patriarchal value system. The specter of patriarchy continually hovers over the world in which the story unfolds. After watching, one might realize that if the background timeline of the entire story were pushed back 200 years, the story would still stand, perhaps even more logically. Such films need to gain public recognition and popularity today (evidenced by their lower ratings among similar films), indirectly showcasing the backwardness of the films' themes and the exhibited values. From the low ratings of this film, we can draw an understanding: for female audiences in 2023, what's needed isn't merely stories of women fighting back against men but films that portray women centered on their authentic emotions and morals.