I found this movie very triggering but also so important to watch, so if you get triggered by domestic abuse or violence against women then I would sit this one out.

Only Mine follows a woman called Julie who starts dating a charming man called David who is also a police officer. This man is basically God’s gift to women, he is tall, he is handsome, he’s built like a Greek God, and he is very charming however there is a dark side to David and something that far too many women have experienced in their lives.

David begins to control Julie in many ways and this is where the movie started to get hard for me to watch as I too have experienced the same sort of gaslighting and controlling behaviour that Julie was going through.

Now the movie of course moves into an area that is very overdramatic and over the top, that’s what movies are for, they’re meant to be an escalation of real life however the things that the movie showed you during its short run time are very important for you to notice in real life.

When you first meet someone and you think they’re wonderful and then they turn out to be not as wonderful as you first thought you see that it’s an act, they’re trying to be everything that you could ever want them to be because then you’re more likely to stay with them, even when they start showing you signs of things that you shouldn’t be OK with. Gaslighting is a huge thing as well as controlling behaviour, limiting who you talk to, constantly being checked up on, and even pushing you away from people or even just making strangers hate you by spreading horrible rumours.

In the movie this is exaggerated because David is a police officer and he is the one that you should usually go to for help and yet Julie cannot because he is her abuser. Now you may say for most of the movie ‘oh he doesn’t abuse her because there is no actual violence’ but even the emotional abuse can be just as bad if not more damaging than the physical, because yes a punch can hurt but a punch leaves evidence, however emotional abuse leaves you scarred on the inside and completely ruins your trust in anyone that you may see a relationship in, in the future.

This movie I feel is one that everyone should watch just so they know what signs to look out for. I think a lot of the time these men who are like David don’t even realise what they’re doing or how bad they are actually being and unfortunately because they’re not called up on the behaviour it just escalates into something that can become irreversible. I think people also need to trust their gut more, I always say that my gut has never done me wrong and I standby that, if something doesn’t feel right you have to get out of it and it’s much easier to leave at the first sign of trouble then keep giving them the benefit of the doubt and suddenly you’re married with kids and escaping is much harder to do.

Only Mine is a fantastic movie just from its premise. The actual acting and cinematography can be seen as a bit simple but the point it’s portraying is very good and I imagine it will be a good learning experience for anyone to watch it so they can see the red flags they should be looking out for, and so they don’t end up in a situation like Julie did. It’s definitely one of those movies that’s going to take me a while to get over and I will be recommending it to other people, especially if their partner is starting to show signs like David did, and they don’t see it.

What did you think of Only Mine?

Until next time.

Published by shonaharding

Media graduate with a passion for reviewing film and TV. View all posts by shonaharding