In fact I would say that the film actually comprises three relatively separate stories that are told sequentially but are linked thematically. The basic narrative of The Crying Game is, itself, rather complicated, because it starts off telling one story and then makes a drastic shift in location and direction to tell another, seemingly different, story. In fact I would say that The Crying Game, secret revealed or not, is one of the greatest films ever made. Nevertheless, even if you do know about this film’s secret, the film is still very much worth seeing, and it holds up on repeated viewings. The secret in The Crying Game lies at the very soul of the tale. Note I am not talking here about just some mystery film having some red-herring plot elements that deliberately try to mislead the viewer with false clues and bogus suspects. So for the sake of those who have not yet seen The Crying Game and don’t know about its story, I will try to discuss it here without fully revealing its remarkable plot secret. I could mention The Usual Suspects (1995) along these lines, but the quintessential film, for me, in this category is The Crying Game (1992). This is because there are a few films that have such extravagant plot twists near the end that they offer a uniquely special experience to first-time viewers with no prior knowledge of the story.
But I do make some exceptions to this practice. It is similar to the way I still like listening to Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, even though I have heard it many times. I know how Romeo and Juliet and Citizen Kane come out, but I still enjoy seeing them again.
Some people might think that this gives away too much of the story, but I think that knowing how a plot comes out in the end does not normally diminish one’s enjoyment of a good story. Those of you familiar with my essays know that I usually like to discuss the narrative structure of a film under review, because that structure, and the way it is expressed in cinematic form, are such significant factors in film aesthetics.