| Written by Manon on November 15, 2021

[TW — This review mentions depression, suicide and mental illness, please proceed with care]

As unfamous as it is, Red Doors is a very great and interesting movie. In its integrity, it’s broaching a few heavy subjects, such as suicide, despression, loneliness, homosexuality and young love. The story is about the Wongs and their individual life problems, especially after the father — Ed— is disappearing one day. His three daughters and wife face then a new problem and are dealing with their own individually at the same time.

The movie is then super interesting because of the way the different subjects are portrayed, starting by the despression and mental health of the father, Ed. This character seems really lonely and empty, even around people. He barely speaks and try to kill himslef everytime he is alone, but is ultimately failing each and every time. His youngest daughter, Katie, even walks on him once and seems not to care. I think it is a very interesting point of view of the subject for multiple reasons. First of all, everytime he tries to kill himself, he has an instant of hesitation like he already knows it’s not going to work better than last time. There is a kind of lightness regarding this subject thaat makes the movie bearable but also not too deep or dramatic by still treating this subject with respect. This aspect of lightness is deepened when Katie witnesses her dad making a suicidal attempt and she doesn’t seem to be surprised, as if it’s a routine and she already knows he’s going to stay alive after this episode. This point of view on the subject is also really sad because of the fact that it became kind of a routine for the family. Seeing this character being so depressed and done with life but not seeking for help is pretty sad but also really true becausee it’s the case of a lot of people out there.

The second big subject portrayed in this movie is the homosexuality as well as being famous. These two subjects are intertwined in a single story: the one of the oldest daughter — Julie— who’s falling in love with an actress. Again, there is soe lightness in th e way this subject is being put in the movie because the women’s relationship is kept secret but not really at the same time. Yes, they are hiding and don’t tell anyone about their love but it doesn’t feel like they’re forced to do so due to their family or friends, they just do it. There is then a certain reserve about homosexuality but no homophobia of any kind. In fact, the two women are hiding their relationship regardless of the fact that they’re of the same sex. It is more about one of them being an actress than both of them being women and it can feel kind of hopefull for an LGBTQ+ watcher because this movie shows that not everything is bad in being queer and it actually feels kind of the same as being in a heterosexual relationship.

The last — but not least— subject is the one of young love. It affects two of the Wongs daughters: Samantha and Katie. One is already in her adult life while the other one is still in high school. They’re both exploring young love in two different ways. The oldest, Samantha, is reunited with her teenage boyfriend who’s now working at their okd high school. She’s engaged and seeing this guy again is going to put everything back in perspective in her life. At the same time, her youngest sister Katie is experiencing one of her first love. She and a boy named Simon have a love/war relationship where they both pull on pranks at each other but at the same time they both have a huge crush for the other. They’re actually reunited by a prank gone wrong (put in the first place by Katie) where they both end up being injured. It’s another kind of relationship than her sister and both point of views are very interesting to watch because they show the different sides of love.

In fact, (almost) every relationship in this story is a relationship about different kind of love. They’re all intertwined with other issues faced by the characters but in the end they’re all reunited by the same emotion: love. Red Doors becomes then a very beautiful movie about family and romantic relationships. There is no very big goal for the characters in this movie other than the one of going through their life, just like everyone else on this planet, which make them not that unique, in the end, and easily relatable for any viewer.

About Sebastian Stan’s character: Sebastian is portraying Simon, the young man who has a love/hate relationship with Katie, the youngest Wong daughter. Even if he doesn’t have a very long screentime, his character is interesting by his relationship with one of the mains. He’s a funny guy who likes to put on pranks on the girl he’s in love with. He’s portraying a very childish and frsh version of love, which is super interesting. In the end, his character is super endearing, funny and nice.

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