Year: 1998
Runtime: 87 mins
Language: English
Director: Michael Winterbottom
What she wants, she gets. A young boy and his sister are drawn into one man’s obsessive pursuit of his former lover.
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In the quiet British seaside town of Farhaven, a 14-year-old boy Honda, who has spoken little since witnessing his mother’s suicide years earlier, bumps into hairdresser Helen and notices she drops her bracelet. That small, almost accidental moment becomes a bridge between two troubled lives: Honda silently returns the bracelet, and Helen, surprised by the gesture, begins to treat him with unexpected warmth. The incident plants a fragile connection in a landscape where silence often speaks louder than words, and it lingers long enough to shape what follows.
Eight years later, Helen’s ex-boyfriend Martin returns from prison and, still haunted by her, struggles to approach her directly. He fills the ache with a troubling substitute, hiring a sex worker who bears some of Helen’s familiar features, hoping to rekindle what was lost. Meanwhile, Honda and Helen’s world becomes entangled with risk: Honda learns that Helen has a partner, a radio DJ named Bob, and watches as their relationship frays under the weight of fear and control. Helen refuses Bob’s sexual advances, a tension that grows until Bob’s aggression spills into the airwaves, and Honda, with help from Helen’s older sister, helps expose Bob’s violence on his own radio show—an act that shatters Bob’s image and deepens the rift between him and Helen.
As the drama tightens, Bob spots Honda near the couple and pursues him, while Martin, who has been shadowing Bob, ends up beating Bob in a fit of protective rage. Honda’s sister, believing she’s shielding her brother, begins dating Martin, even as Martin’s attention remains fixed on Helen. The trio’s precarious arrangement spirals further when Helen, out one night at a nightclub, reconnects with Sam, an old friend, and they share a kiss and a dance. The moment seems hopeful until Helen, again, refuses to have sex, and a violent confrontation with Martin erupts when he attacks Sam. Shocked and frightened, Helen flees, finding solace in Honda’s quiet presence, who has followed the night’s events with a patient, almost protective vigil.
Helen’s painful history resurfaces in a brutal honesty: when she was fourteen, she was drawn into a sexual relationship with Martin, an abuse that leaves a lasting scar. The revelation casts every later moment in a new, heavier light, and Martin’s presence becomes a constant threat. After a tense confrontation, Helen seeks a restraining order—but Martin, fearing jail, chooses to leave town only after one last visit. That night, Helen invites Honda to her house. She manipulates the situation to force Honda into exposing himself, then, with Martin knocking at the door, she keeps Honda out of sight as she faces him. They agree to have one final encounter before he leaves, but the encounter devolves into horror as Martin begins to strangle Helen. Honda intervenes, smashing a bottle to break the assault, and Martin finally reveals the truth: it was Helen who killed her father. In a grim turn, Helen seizes a bust and beats Martin to death, then convinces Honda to help dispose of the body in the river—the same river where they had hidden her father years earlier.
Trauma and fear radiate outward as Helen’s silhouette fades from Farhaven. She leaves town, while Honda, left reeling, begins to reconstruct a life from the shards of what he witnessed and what he did. The recordings Honda makes in the aftermath hint at a slow, uncertain return to speech for him, a quiet echo of the boy who once chose not to speak, now slowly finding his voice again amid the echoes of the town’s darkest secrets.
Last Updated: October 07, 2025 at 09:50
Discover curated groups of movies connected by mood, themes, and story style. Browse collections built around emotion, atmosphere, and narrative focus to easily find films that match what you feel like watching right now.
Young protagonists navigating dangerous secrets and adult obsessions in isolated settings.Discover other movies like I Want You that focus on young characters confronting dark adult realities in small-town settings. These similar thrillers and dramas explore themes of obsessive love, family secrets, and coming of age under the shadow of trauma and violence.
The narrative pattern centers on a young protagonist's perspective, often in a confined community. A traumatic event or the arrival of a dangerous outsider disrupts their world, forcing them into a painful coming-of-age journey. The story weaves together past and present, revealing how buried secrets directly impact the child's present-day reality, culminating in a confrontation that forever alters their innocence.
These films are grouped together for their shared focus on the intersection of childhood and darkness. They create a specific, unsettling mood by filtering intense, adult themes through a young person's vulnerable point of view, resulting in emotionally heavy stories about the loss of innocence.
Stories where romantic fixation curdles into dangerous possession and explosive violence.If you liked the tense, dark romance and psychological suspense of I Want You, explore these similar movies. They feature stories of obsessive love that turns dangerous, with complex characters, slow-burn tension, and heavy emotional weight leading to shocking violence.
These narratives follow a pattern of obsession, where one character's intense desire for another becomes a central, destructive force. The story builds slowly, establishing a mood of unease that escalates into psychological manipulation and stalking. The tension culminates in a violent confrontation, leaving characters emotionally shattered and the resolution often ambiguous or bleak.
This thread unites films that explore the darkest side of human connection. They share a high-intensity, psychologically driven vibe defined by a specific narrative arc: the transition from desire to dangerous obsession, portrayed with a dark tone and heavy emotional impact.
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