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In the Greek romance Monday, Sebastian Stan and Denise Gough engage in loud, passionate lovemaking across several locations, including a truck, a truck bed, a ferry, and even a beach. However, while that sounds passionate and exciting, director and co-writer Argyris Papadimitropoulos’s film actually feels like a monotonic slog.
As the couple’s thrilling romance progresses, so too does this movie, and maybe this was the intention. But it certainly does not justify why we have to suffer along with the characters. One would feel more sympathetic to their highs and lows and their will won’t situations if they were better drawn. Stan’s Mickey is a charming party boy with a case of Peter Pan syndrome, and Gough’s Chloe is a captivating and pragmatic lawyer who is certainly the more sensible one in the relationship (as in, she actually has furniture). Outside of a few simple characteristics, there isn’t really anything to them individually, and they hardly change as a couple over the months of the film’s events. From the very beginning, they seem post-doomed, and all we can do is wonder why they ever cared beyond the initial thrill of outstanding sex.
In the beginning, Stan and Gough both share romantic sparks as ex-pats in their mid-30s who meet during an Athens summer dance party. The fact they kiss each other intensely before even knowing each other’s names tells a lot about the kind of volatility that’s in store, and Papadimitropoulos puts us right in the center of action through a long and immersive tracking shot. Mickey has been DJing in the city for the last seven years after he left New York right before his band was set to blow up. He met his wife, Chloe, an immigration lawyer who has spent the last 18 months residing in Greece, on the cusp of returning to the US. When they first crossed paths on that fateful Friday, it was highly unlikely that they would split and be living their normal lives by the following Monday.
A title that revolves around the movie begins with the way conversations from Papadimitropoulos and Rob Hayes appear in the film. There are Fridays that are happy, sad, and the list goes on. All of which add towards the timeline where the relationship moves forward. The movie focuses on how the relationship revolves around wondering when the couple realizes they aren’t meant for each other. During the film, Chloe and Mickey have a party where they invite their friends, and the outcome is entertainingly awful. The difference between the opposites is clearly portrayed with the friends they hang out with. Both sets of friends are annoying, that is certain, but in different ways, her friends are snooty and his are rude. You will not want to come across this set of people ever, and here we are.
Some scenes help explore these characters, or more accurately, the character behind Stan. For Gough, the Irish theater actress, it is strange that she is more of a passenger in the show considering she is physically vibrant and should be active for her role as a supportive go-getter. While that occurs, Mickey’s one-time bandmate (Dominique Tipper), who is now moderately successful on her own, comes to town for a gig and sees an opportunity to make Mickey question his lifestyle. Stan, who is famous for his portrayal of Jeff Gillooly in “I, Tonya” and the Winter Soldier in the Marvel universe, gets a rare opportunity to exhibit some of his dramatic restraint as well as show some romantic lead charm and it is really impressive, so much so that one wishes he could have better material to work with.
The other scene, which is the film’s best, happens when Chloe goes out for a messy dinner with Mickey’s ex-girlfriend and mother of his 6-year-old son, Aspa (Elli Tringou). Mickey hates being a father. Chloe shows up at the restaurant on Mickey’s orders with the hope of negotiating for joint custody terms, in the hopes of acting as both his lawyer and girlfriend, and the violence and stark baldness between them lend Monday great and much-needed energy.
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