I wrote earlier this year about the controversy swirling around Lucky McKee’s film The Woman. After a midnight showing at Sundance last January, one angry man in the audience stood up and denounced the film as a “disgusting movie” that “degrades women.” Given McKee’s nuanced treatment of gender issues in his previous films May and The Woods, I suspected that this outraged critic had completely missed the point.
Now I’ve finally gotten to see the film and, yep, he did. The Woman isn’t a misogynist film; it’s a film about misogyny. The Woman revolves around a cheerful , self-satisfied and and superficially charming country lawyer who captures a ferocious feral woman he spots on a hunting trip and chains her in the cellar in what he perversely sees as an attempt to “civilize” her. A patriarchal king of his castle, he introduces her to the rest of the family and assigns them all chores relating to her upkeep.
I don’t really want to give away much more than this; suffice it to say that as the film progresses we learn just how much of an odious psychopath this “family man” really is. But while the film offers a savage critique of his cruelty, and his misogyny, none of the women in the film are unambiguously noble victims, and when they begin to fight back the story is no simple tale of feminist empowerment. It’s a bit more subtle and unsettling than that.
While less overtly violent than, say, your typical Saw film, The Woman is a film that’s often, and by design, hard to take. Yes, there are some grisly deaths, but this isn’t a film that glories in gore for gore’s sake; it’s really about cruelty and complicity and feeling trapped, the ways in which fucked-up families can ensnare even outsiders in their toxic dynamics.
Naturally, the film has drawn sharply mixed reactions from critics. It got a glowing review from Andy Webster in the New York Times, who described the cast as “remarkable” and praised the way McKee invests the film’s “a powerful parable with an abundance of closely observed details.” Marc Holcomb of the Village Voice, meanwhile, dismissed it as “torture porn for people who’d never admit to liking torture porn.” (He also noted sardonically that the feral woman is “apparently tame enough to shave her armpits.” And her legs too, I might add; under the caked-on-grime, she’s what the PUAs would probably rate a HB10. )
But the strangest review I’ve seen so far is one by Rene Rodriguez in the Miami Herald, who perversely describes the film as, er, fun. While acknowledging the film’s feminist themes, she dismisses them as mere window-dressing:
[C]ome on: You want a feminist movie, go rent Norma Rae. The Woman is the sort of horror picture designed to make you throw popcorn at the screen, groan with disgust and shriek out loud when McKee springs a shock on you. … Good times.
Really? Were you throwing popcorn at the screen during Antichrist too?
Of course, it doesn’t exactly help – as Rodriguez and a couple of other reviewers have noted – that the film’s publicists sent out the DVD screener with a barf bag “just in case.” The Woman deserves better than that.
EDITED TO ADD: Regular Man Boobz commenters might want to check out this thread on the IMDb forums, in which a (somewhat oversimplified) discussion of the feminist themes in the film is quickly derailed by a dude who thinks it laughable that a mere woman could possibly overpower the family patriarch:
I feel sorry for you and any other woman who truly believes that they can physically overpower a man.
You know, if women are just as physically capable as men, I’d love to start my own inter-gender boxing league. Sign me up, baby! Equality at its finest. 🙂
And the trailer:
@zhinxy
“Please show ME how feminism is particularly sucking up the budget.”
Is Title IX free?
Surely I shouldn’t have to list the myriad of agencies that are women specific.
Just so we’re on the same page here. You do realize any State agency costs shitloads of money. You also know the way our Government procures funds is to borrow the money at interest from the fed. The fed, (irs) then collects money from the serfs with the might of the State as it’s private police force.
So of all those woman specific agencies, what’s the total budget?
Do you know what divide and conquer means? Do you really think that getting us all arguing about welfare and what meager safety net the gov hands us is totally sticking it to the people on the top?
Like I said, if there IS a literal illuminati, you couldn’t be a better patsy for it.
@Holly Pervocracy
” It’s like thinking that the municipal ordinance against public urination has its own secret Thought Police.”
If I’m on the highway and I really have to go and stop in the woods to take a leak and a cop pulls up at the time. I can be put on the sexual offenders registry.
What law costs the most money?
Just watched the movie myself. Grade A horror flick in that it made me feel sick, and the sick part of me loved the ending.
My bad it’s 47%
http://milexdata.sipri.org/result.php4
But then, that was 2k9, not 2k11, where we’re promising even more slashing to the actual useful part of the government’s spending. 53% goes to literally ‘everything else’, which is still not just ‘entitlement spending’. You do realize that includes Social Security, the interstate highway system…
But that’s my last response to Milkboy. Spear’s right, other games are way more fun.
Writing poetry’s always nice, as is reading it to an appreciative audience. I’m thankful to have had that pleasure. And chopping firewood, I like that.
@Holly Pervocracy
” It’s like thinking that the municipal ordinance against public urination has its own secret Thought Police.”
If I’m on the highway and I really have to go and stop in the woods to take a leak and a cop pulls up at the time. I can be put on the sexual offenders registry.
NWO – would you like to involve yourself in libertarian or anarchist police watch organizations? I know many wonderful ways you can do this, and it has nothing to do with arguing with feminists on the internet? You can be productive!
Stuff Ozy Likes:
Tea.
Ancient Greece.
Ancient Rome.
Being given fanfic by my friends.
Talking about Holmes.
The Ramones.
Punk music in general.
Sex.
Cuddles.
Mike and Ikes.
Rifftrax.
Board games.
Singing.
Fantasy novels.
Weird and interesting trivia.
Politics.
Going to protests and being all shouty.
Long, pointless arguments about who’s what alignment.
Stupid Internet quizzes.
Social theory.
Sociology in general.
Writing essays.
Writing fiction.
Poetry.
Firewood warms you twice.
NWOslave wants to fuck 15 year olds. If he gets put on a sex offender registry, it would be no skin off my back.
I like Ami
Magpie – Good, then you are correct. 🙂
Sherlock Holmes, shiny things, REM, coffee, coffee, coffee…
I like working at my job.
Yeah, I like Ami too.
…
Greek Mythology
Norse Mythology
Stephen Fry
Reading and posting here and on Sadly, No!
Twitter
Chocolate soy milk
A nice, firm apple
Making fun of Twilight
Science
…
@Moewicus: Sorry, I’m a bit slow.
@NWOslave: in which condition does performing a sexual act become worthy of shame? (hint: your argument can’t be “ew, shameful slutty slut”)
My answer, for example, would be that a public pov when at least one participant doesn’t consent. (whether it is because he can’t or doesn’t want to). From a private pov, it could be when it represents a breach of trust of an other partner, like cheating. It gets obviously worse if it endanger the health of the cheated person.
Shit, I forgot coffee! Also pretty much everything Ozy mentioned. And Guitar Wolf. And swords.
@zhinxy
Well of course the gang at the top wants everybody fighting. They sponsor it. They sponsor the vilest elements of feminism of course. Eventually, what choice is there but to fight back against the symptom, (feminism).
The real problem is of course the evil men at the top. Until feminists, and even women in general realize who the real enemy is we’re beaten.
Until all women take a step back and say, ya know what, men had it just as hard in the past as women. Until all women stop the entire nonsense of 10,000 articles a day either extolling the zillion virtues of women, or berating men for all their faults while claiming women have none. Everytime a Hannah Rosin struts about proclaiming how great women are, the hatred grows a little stronger.
Surely you’ve noticed in just the past few years how the comments for any article have changed? A woman opens her mouth about men, she gets rightfully slammed. The gang at the top are fucking brilliant. These guys aren’t screwing around. They got the power. And it’s not the people you see in the news who have the power. The real power is the guys you never see. They’ve been doin this shit a long time and they’re damn good at it.
@Kyrie
Why not start with keeping your private life private? Or are you such an attention whore you need to run around screaming, “look at me, look at me, I’m so outrageous!”
Do go on and tell me who these guys are.
Oh, and I like about 2/3 of what’s on ozymandias42 and Spearhafoc’s lists. So maybe feminists do have a kind of hive-mind.
Also I love bees, even though I’m scared when they all gather around my head or worse get in the mask. And I’d love a pet rat.
How are they sponsoring feminism?
I like being slow at thinking. I can’t go round and round with worries all the time.
@zhinxy
The guys with the money of course.
If you don’t pay your taxes, the cops come to collect. So who do the cops work for? That’s a lotta power if you can command any police force in the nation.