In Australia, the executive Kate (Linda Cropper) sees a young woman undressing her stolen dress in the swimming pool of a club, and regardless of the contrary opinion of her mate Phil (Jeff Truman), she decides to steal it back. Later her teenager son Matt (Wade Osborne) is approached by the smalltime thief Rachel (Anna Lise Phillips), the woman who stole the dress, and after spending some leisure time with her, they go to his middle class house. Sooner, Rachel's friend Nick (Scott Major) joins them, and Nick ties Matt to his mother's bed while Rachel masturbates him and cleans him with his mother's dress. The abused boy has a trauma, and his mother seeks revenge against Rachel, who returns with her friends, in escalating forms of retaliation until a tragic conclusion.The beginning of "Envy" is promising and quite original, notwithstanding being confused. I saw the first two or three chapters of the DVD twice to understand the intriguing situation. Unfortunately, after the abduction of Rachel by Kate in the mall, it seems that the director became lost in the development of the story. It does not make any sense and is completely absurd for me that an intelligent executive, even affected by an emotional problem, decides to send a sociopath back to her home to give the sexual initiation to her traumatized son. The conclusion, with the death of Matt, is appropriate and shows that violence may generate increased payback, and the price of her dress in the end was the life of her beloved son. The actress Anna Lise Phillips has a great performance and makes the movie worth.My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "Inveja Fatal" ("Fatal Envy")

The tale resolves around escalating tit-for-tat retaliations between a mother and a young woman with antisocial tendencies. I bought this for NZ$5 from a bargain bin. As such I was initially pleasantly surprised. A bit of kink, a bit of drama. It is true that there were some plot holes and unconvincing character transitions but it still could have been good fun. Towards the end it presented what I found a quite amusing possible alternative resolution that potentially tied together some of the questions raised quite neatly. The questions I am referring to are, What was the actual core of the boy's trauma, had the mother lost sight of her desire to protect him in seeking revenge, and could the girl ever escape her situation with just $180 of 'life savings' Unfortunately there is apparently a handbook of inescapable clichés out there that escalating revenge dramas can only end with the obvious tragedy that leaves the protagonist looking mournfully into the camera and teaches us that escalating revenge is bad. The ending that was added to restore this cliché is described in the blurb as 'enigmatic' and 'profoundly unsettling after-effect'. I just found it annoying.

This movie was a budget flick to say the least. Camera work presented several interesting shots, but for the most part, it was not top quality at all. The plot was the weakest aspect, the acting was mostly bad or wooden at best, and the script wasn't good either. I felt as though the movie would never end. The fact that the crazed mother wouldn't simply go to the police was ludicrous. It was as if there was a "no way out" thing happening where the family couldn't, but this simply was not the case. The police were already looking for the trio of bad folks so why not call them when the mother found the house they live in. In fact, by the end where I assume the kid was actually killed (er drowned), you would think the police would most definitely have been involved!!! This really made the plot ridiculous and the movie was nearly unwatchable.Stupid. I wasted 82 minutes watching this.

Coming in at 83 minutes I can recommend this a decent investment in time. It is a standard thriller with some nods towards sexual, family and class politics and the story though never rising to great levels nevertheless holds the interest as two women become involved in an increasingly bitter struggle following the theft of one's dress from a clothesline by the other. Coming from a middle class Australian background it is interesting to see middle class Australia as the canvas this story is told on. Though not a great film, it nevertheless hits the modest mark it aims for- certainly I enjoyed it more than the average big budget overblown levithian that is usually thrown at the screen these days.