Gordo unsettling Simon and Robyn in The Gift movie
“Bad things can be a gift,” ominously declares Gordo, portrayed by Joel Edgerton, to Simon (Jason Bateman) and Robyn (Rebecca Hall) in the suspenseful thriller, The Gift. But what exactly is the gift in The Gift? It certainly isn’t the initial, seemingly polite gestures from Gordo, Simon’s old high-school acquaintance, like the expensive bottle of wine left at their doorstep. Nor is it the extravagant and bewildering gift of a fully grown koi for their pond, an act that blurs the lines between generosity and unsettling obsession. These peculiar presents are merely the opening acts in Gordo’s increasingly intrusive re-entry into Simon and Robyn’s lives. They serve as unsettling breadcrumbs leading to the true, and far more sinister, nature of the gift at the heart of the movie.
The real “gift” Gordo bestows upon Simon and Robyn is far from benevolent. It’s the insidious seed of doubt and the blossoming discord that he meticulously cultivates within their marriage. Gordo’s presence forces Robyn to confront a disturbing truth about her husband: Simon was not only a high-school bully but one capable of inflicting deep and lasting damage. The specifics of Simon’s cruelty towards Gordo in their youth are gradually revealed, painting a picture of a callous act that irrevocably altered Gordo’s life trajectory. As Robyn delves deeper, she witnesses Simon’s present-day ruthlessness, observing his manipulative climb up the corporate ladder, a path paved with questionable ethics and a chilling lack of empathy.
However, the film falters somewhat in its portrayal of Robyn’s awakening. The script, also penned by Edgerton who directs, struggles to convincingly depict Robyn’s supposed naiveté regarding her husband’s character. There’s a disconnect between the film’s attempt to portray Robyn as suddenly realizing Simon’s flaws and the lack of prior evidence suggesting she was living in blissful ignorance. The movie hints at a fragile and confused nature within Robyn, seemingly attributed to her being a woman, a trope that feels outdated and undermines the potential for a more nuanced character study. This clumsy characterization risks reducing Robyn to a mere plot device, rather than a fully realized individual reacting authentically to the unfolding revelations about her partner.
The narrative takes a decidedly darker turn when Gordo’s “gift” escalates beyond psychological manipulation. In a chilling climax, Gordo leaves a package among baby gifts – a video recording designed to shatter Simon’s world. The video depicts Gordo looming over an unconscious Robyn, having surreptitiously drugged her drink. The implication is stark and disturbing: rape. The film subtly hints at the possibility that the newborn baby, a child Simon and Robyn had long struggled to conceive, might not be Simon’s biological offspring. This suggestion hangs heavy in the air, fueled by the timing of Robyn’s pregnancy shortly after Gordo’s reappearance.
This plot twist is undeniably crass and designed to provoke, but the truly problematic aspect of The Gift lies in its aftermath. Despite initial feints at portraying Simon as potentially culpable, the film ultimately pivots to position Gordo as the unequivocal villain. The movie’s climax centers on Simon’s distress in the maternity ward, fixated on the paternity of the newborn and the potential violation of his wife. The horror, the “payback,” is framed as Simon’s anguish over his “property” – his wife and child – being potentially tainted by another man. The film seemingly expects the audience to sympathize with Simon, or at least recognize this as his deserved comeuppance for past bullying, suggesting a warped sense of justice where the real victim, Robyn, is sidelined.
This narrative choice perpetuates a disturbing trope: using the specter of sexual assault not to explore the trauma inflicted upon the woman, but as a tool to inflict pain and elicit emotional responses from the male characters. What’s particularly unsettling in The Gift is Robyn’s complete obliviousness to the possibility of her own violation. She remains blissfully unaware of the potential implications of Gordo’s actions, and the film presents this ignorance as almost desirable.
A rational interpretation of the events suggests that Gordo’s actions are purely psychological warfare, a calculated attempt to torment Simon without actual physical harm to Robyn. It strains credulity to believe Robyn could be raped and impregnated without any awareness, especially given her prior attempts to conceive and presumed understanding of her own body. The film, however, seems to deliberately muddy these waters. It leans into the idea that Robyn is inherently confused and possibly self-deceiving, a woman incapable of recognizing the blatant flaws in her husband, and perhaps equally incapable of understanding her own bodily experiences.
This ambiguity surrounding the potential rape and paternity becomes the central “gift” of the movie’s title – a twisted offering bestowed upon Robyn, the woman desperate for a child, albeit through horrifying and manipulative means. This interpretation only deepens the troubling misogynistic undertones of The Gift. It reinforces the film’s apparent contempt for its female character, portraying her as either willfully ignorant or inherently clueless.
The Gift ultimately hinges on this unresolved question of paternity. The ending’s intended “punch” relies entirely on the lingering doubt. Simon’s devastation is not presented as a consequence of his own past actions or a recognition of the trauma inflicted upon Robyn. Instead, it’s framed as the horror of potentially losing control over his “property,” of never truly knowing if his wife and child are exclusively his. Throughout this ordeal, Robyn remains largely passive and uninformed, her potential trauma minimized in favor of Simon’s male angst. The film’s ultimate failing is its apparent blindness to the real victim in this scenario, prioritizing male anxieties over the potential violation and emotional experience of the female character at its center. The Gift reveals a disturbing lack of awareness, not just in its male characters, but perhaps in the very fabric of its narrative construction.
