The Invitation (dir. Karyn Kusama) is a smart and expertly crafted psychological thriller that explores the long term effects of grief. After Will and his wife Eden split after the death of their child, Eden disappears for two years and abruptly returns with a new husband, David, and invites Will, his new girlfriend, and several of their friends to their house for a party. The situation is already awkward at best for Will; he and Eden used to live in this house, and she had cheated on him with David, and a collision with a coyote leaves him and his girlfriend Kira shaken, but its Eden and David’s new blissful personalities that truly rattles Will. They credit “The Invitation,” the program they attended for two years in Mexico, for their newfound happiness, and the happiness of their new roommate Sadie. Will’s instincts tell him that this “Invitation” is a cult that’s unhealthy at best, but he’s carrying so much emotional baggage that it’s almost impossible to know for sure.
That uncertainty is the main tension in the film; things do seem very “off” from the beginning, but Will is obviously not starting off in a good state of mind. He’s going to the house he used to share with his ex and his deceased son, seeing her and the man she cheated on him with. Kusama takes advantage of framing, sound design, and focus to unnerve; a simple trip up the stairs becomes ominous in slow motion, the lavish dinner party turns into a barrage of overwhelming voices and grotesque chewing. Although the house is huge, each room feels claustrophobic.
Will obviously has not moved on yet, but has the Invitation program helped Eden and David do so? Or does it just allow them to avoid the pain that Will is still stuck in? Is Sadie’s happy-go-lucky, sexually open approach a sign of inner peace, or of desperation? The situation seems fishy to Will, but the other partygoers are unconcerned; they admit that Sadie’s presence and Eden and David’s newfound bliss is strange, but they feel that weirdness is acceptable as long as they’re happy. When the couple insists on introducing “The Invitation” to them, they encourage Will to be “open-minded.”
Grief and depression are an uphill struggle to overcome, and hard for others to support or understand. Immediately after the loss, people can handle the initial devastation, but there’s a point where you’re supposed to be “over it”, and if you’re not, people will eventually lose sympathy, or just becomes frustrated with you. With the outside world side eyeing you and the sadness overwhelming you, it’s impossible not to wonder if something is wrong with you, and the program provides both an easy answer to that fear and a concrete method to overcoming that sadness. Does everyone else truly believe that Eden and David are happy, or are they just happy that the couple isn’t moping around anymore?
After a bit of lag during second act, the last act veers away from the psychological to a much more violent genre, and though it’s shocking, it’s not out of place. The entire film has been asking how to handle grief, and the last parts, the ending in particular, show the consequences of unprocessed pain.
