‘Malcolm & Marie’ is a Slasher Film

The knives may be emotional, but they inflict violence and wound.

Film poster for “Malcolm & Marie”

SPOILERS FOLLOW. Netflix’s Malcolm & Marie is not a romantic drama. It is a distillation of a toxic, abusive relationship that fails to face its central premise head on. Malcolm & Marie is about emotional violence and the elisions and manipulation that cover it up. The film was marketed very…