If you’re familiar with the initial Simple Favor flick, you won’t be shocked to discover that its sequel, Another Simple Favor, now available on Amazon Prime Video, delves into some shocking taboo territories, including a hint of incest. In the first dark comedy thriller from 2018, one of the surprising plot twists involved Anna Kendrick’s character, Stephanie, engaging in a relationship with her brother, may be resulting in the birth of a child. This revelation led to a memorable line from Blake Lively’s character, who exclaimed, “Brotherf–ker!”
Naturally, Another Simple Favor had to match or surpass the level of darkness and scandal of its predecessor. Directed by Paul Feig and penned by Jessica Sharzer and Laeta Kalogridis, this sequel continues the story seven years after the original film. Emily, fresh out of prison (following some murder and attempted murder incidents, no big deal), is now engaged to an Italian man and is planning an extravagant wedding on the romantic isle of Capri. She insists on having Stephanie, her old acquaintance, as her maid of honor. Stephanie agrees, partly for the exposure and partly due to Emily’s threats of legal action—just a typical friendship dynamic!
Warning: Major spoilers for Another Simple Favor ahead. Seriously, stop reading now if you don’t want to be spoiled.
Let’s get this out in the open: Blake Lively has sex with herself in Another Simple Favor, and yes, it’s wild.
When both Emily’s ex-husband Sean (Henry Golding) and her new husband Dante (Michele Morrone) are mysteriously killed, Stephanie’s detective instincts kick in. She unravels the shocking truth that Emily’s supposed stillborn triplet, Charity, is actually alive. Viewers learned in the previous movie that Emily’s birth name is Hope and that she was part of a set of triplets, with one sibling dying during birth. The surviving sister, Faith, met her demise at the hands of Emily. However, it turns out that Charity is not deceased but was abducted by Emily’s Aunt Linda, raised in isolation, and subjected to severe mistreatment, leading to her mental instability.
All this brings us to the incest scene—or should I say, twincest scene—in Another Simple Favor. Charity (also played by Lively) shows up at Emily’s hotel room, surprising her with her existence. With an armful of creepy dolls and a dreamy, childlike sort of insanity, Charity promises Emily she will “fix everything” so that the two of them can be together forever. Before Emily can react, Charity injects her with a drug. Then Charity lies Emily’s immobile body down on the bed, arranging her sister’s limp arms around her in an embrace.
In Emily’s unwilling arms, Charity sweetly confesses to murdering Sean, and reveals her plan to kill Dante.
“I’m not your sister, I’m you. And you’re me. And we’re one,” Charity croons to her twin, stroking her hair. “We don’t need Dante or Sean or Stephanie. We don’t need a woman or a man, we just need each other.”
Then, Charity begins to walk her fingers down Emily’s torso, as she says, in a breathy voice, “I’m only ever going to make you feel good. So good. So good because it makes me feel so good. Do you want to see what I mean? Blink if that’s OK.”
The camera pulls back, so we don’t see if Emily actually does blink or not. All we know is that Charity says, “Yay! OK!” and then reaches her hand… down there.
Maybe Emily did blink, maybe she didn’t. But it’s clear from her expression that this is, without question, a violation. But Charity keeps going. Emily, rendered motionless from the drugs, can only move her eyes.
“We’re gonna love this,” Charity promises. “We can feel so good at the same time.”
Then she flips herself atop her sister, and promises they will have “this” forever. She seals that promise with a kiss.
Yep! That really just happened, and it’s absolutely wild. The scene never gets more explicit than that kiss, but the implication is all too clear: Charity had sex with drugged-out twin sister.
The movie walks a delicate line with this one. On the one hand, this is sexual assault, which feels quite a few shades darker than the movie’s darkly comedic tone. On top of that, the abuser, Charity, is clearly the product of a lifetime of abuse. It’s much harder to play this subject off as part of the heightened, delicious fun. Much easier to do that with murder!
That said, I think Another Simple Favor does pull it off. This scene is relayed via a flashback, from Emily to Stephanie. Stephanie tactfully asks Emily if she’s OK, which helps soften the blow. At least the movie took the time to acknowledge just how dark that scene was, before getting back to the fun stuff.
And, of course, Stephanie couldn’t resist hitting Emily with a line of dialogue that makes this whole thing feel inevitable and scandalous in the best way: “Sisterf–ker!”
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