Desires Ought to be Controlled!
The movie, “Temptations” by Tyler Perry, opens with a marriage counselor working with a young couple having problems. The young couple seems to be unhappy as the husband walks out. Seeing this, the marriage councilor assumes that the wife is having an affair and proceeds to tell her a story about her “sister” Judith. Judith is a therapist working at a matchmaking agency owned by a woman named Janice. Brice and Judith fell in love when they were mere children and married when they were teenagers. The world happens to be a hard place and the couple can be called poor. Future years of unfulfilled dreams pave a path of resentment for Judith. Brick by brick, she follows the path out of her current life and into the strong arms of a wealthy, dark, handsome, dangerous stranger. Marrying young, accruing resentments, neglecting your partner, and having workplace opportunities are all contributing factors to infidelity. In the brief moments that we see Judith actually talking about relationships, her observations and advice are accurate. Judith displays the tale of how an ambitious married woman's temptation by a handsome billionaire leads to betrayal, recklessness, and forever alters the course of her life.
Judith’s “badness” exists in stark contrast to her husband’s goodness. Brice is a good black man, he works very hard and is cautious about everything—work, sex, conflict, and life in general. He doesn’t have money or material things but loves his wife even if he doesn’t pay her a whole lot of attention. He’s a good man. In fact, Judith tells him exactly this before she breaks his heart. Judith, on the other hand, is bad even in a blouse buttoned to her chin and a wrinkled skirt to her ankles. She’s unwomanly in contrast to the women at work. She doesn’t care about appearances. She’s cold to her client and impatient with her husband. Since she’s always thinking about the future, she can’t quite seem to appreciate what she has and...