Are You Pets Talkin’ To Me?: The Voices

By: Lance

In Marjane Satrapi’s The Voices, pills play a big part. When Jerry Hickfang (Ryan Reynolds) takes his prescribed anti-psychotic medication, he sees his environment for what it truly is: dark, twisted, and unpleasant. Similar to that other film with pills in the plot, The Matrix, in which Neo takes the red pill to “see how deep the rabbit hole goes,” taking a pill in The Voices alters Jerry’s reality. Jerry’s reality without the pills is full of cleanliness, cartoon butterflies, winged angels, and talking animals. We know this is not a true reality, but it’s Jerry’s perceived reality when he’s alone. Another connection to The Matrix is how Jerry’s cat, Mr. Whiskers, tells him that he is The One. Not The One to end the war between humans and machines but rather, The One to kill people on purpose.Jerry works at a tub factory in Milton, a small U.S. town. He lives inside of an old bowling alley with his friendly, encouraging dog Bosco and demanding, critical cat Mr. Whiskers. We presume Jerry has a history of mental illness from his meeting early on in the movie with psychotherapist Dr. Warren (Jacki Weaver). She asks him if he hears voices. “I hear voices when someone’s talking to me,” he tells her. Jerry isn’t lying when he admits that. This is because despite the serial-killer thing, Jerry is a good person. He’s asked by his boss to help plan a company party and, in the process, falls head over heels for a British woman from Accounting named Fiona, played by Gemma Arterton. Jerry wants Fiona to like him so he invites her out to his favorite Chinese restaurant called Shi Shan. Fiona, indifferent to the whole situation of living in this tiny town and not really interested in Jerry, stands him up. She doesn’t pay the price of death right away. Her car breaks down in the rain and she spots Jerry driving by on his way home. It’s here, during this car ride, that Jerry and Fiona have a conversation about how Lucifer, commonly known as The Devil, was also an angel.

The two pets, Bosco and Mr. Whiskers, are clearly Jerry’s angel and devil voices on his shoulders. Bosco has the slower, more comforting drawl and supports Jerry in turning himself in to the police because he did a bad thing. Mr. Whiskers, in a Scottish and evil-sounding brogue, tells him that to kill is to feel alive. Jerry, unfortunately, gives in to the temptation of murder suggested by Mr. Whiskers. It’s important to note Reynolds also performs the voices of the animals in the film. This gives us viewers the hint that the orders given to Jerry aren’t entirely external. Yes, the cat made him do it but, at the same time, he is the voice of the cat.

The Voices is being billed as a black comedy. It’s not “black” because of its color scheme. Jerry wears pastel pink coveralls at his job and the overall production design is pretty and bright. Black comedies make light of subjects widely considered to be taboo. Normally we would be repulsed and disgusted by someone chopping up their co-worker but it’s funny in black comedies, right? However in this movie, I can count more times when I was repulsed than times when I laughed. The Voices actually does better when it explores this serious issue of serial killers and how they see the world. Jerry’s violent killings happen very quickly and not planned out like say, John Doe’s message-filled murders in Seven. He also doesn’t go on a rampage like Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver. Like Robert De Niro in that movie, Reynolds does an admirable job of portraying Jerry as crazy yet complicated. His way of speaking and his gestures make him out to be awkward and unpredictable. One can see that when he tries to smile, something inside him that’s more powerful pulls his cheeks back down. Jerry is by no means charming, although he does attract Lisa (Anna Kendrick), a cute and recently divorced co-worker. I would have liked screenwriter Michael R. Perry to give her character more depth. Something more than lonely-people-seeking-out-other-lonely-people would have been nice. Give me the background on why a woman like her finds mysteriousness in a man to be a turn-on. Now I sound like Jerry’s rude cat Mr. Whiskers.

Sadly there is no real-world solution to solve Jerry’s serial killer tendencies. Contrary to what Dr. Warren believes, he can only cope when he’s not taking his meds. Uninhibited by drugs, Jerry sees a dead victim with no blood or stab marks. In one sequence, he sees beauty at the warehouse when forklifts seem to dance synchronously and stack bathtubs into the shape of a pyramid. It’s these moments that stuck with me during The Voices. I didn’t laugh as hard as Jerry cried, because it’s hard to laugh with such dark subject matter. Jerry proves to us that even though his outside world may appear to be dark, he can choose the bright way to see it in his mind.