Happy Friday everyone!
If you’re reading this you’ll see that I have a jazzy new layout. I have apparently reached the age that sorting tech is no longer second nature but with the help of some lovely folks I finally have something that looks pretty snazzy.
It’s been a crazy busy week filled with new releases and I’ve been trying to fit in as much as possible in between Grimmfest Easter Horror Nights, like Godzilla vs Kong & the new Creepshow series.
In the spirit of regular posting, particularly as I have watched so bloody much lately, it felt appropriate to finish Friday with a review of recent viewing. A new Shudder release with a female lead – Female lead Friday? Should this be a thing? Anyway..
Violation
Director : Madeline Sims-Fewer
Violation had a fair bit of hype prior to its recent release on Shudder, and the themes seemed strangely apt in light of recent events, as women everywhere join forces to mourn the horrific death of Sarah Everard and share their own all too common experiences of fear and assault.
The majority of the film builds around the characters and the interpersonal relationships between them, protagonist Mariam (portrayed by director Madeline Sims-Fewer), her husband Caleb (Obi Abili), sister Greta (Anna Maguire) and Mariam’s brother in law, Dylan (Jesse LaVercombe).
The relationships are fraught with tension – alluding to past difficulties and unresolved sibling rivalries. You can hardly blame Mariam seeking solace in her childhood friend, looking for comfort from someone she should surely be able to trust.
I was glad to see the build up to the critical turning point of the film wasn’t over the top, and I felt that a lot of the dialogue within Violation felt incredibly authentic – a factor which makes the subsequent events more impactful for the audience. A lot of the conversations between the sisters hit home in an uncomfortable way that made me reflect internally about what women feel society expects of them and how far we are willing to go for the sake of doing what we think we ‘should’. Particularly when the siblings are discussing Mariam’s marital problems and her lack of intimacy with husband Caleb, and the expectation that she should just ‘push through’. Putting it into words sounds bizarre, as Greta asks, ‘You force yourself to have sex when you don’t want to?’ – but it’s hardly a new concept.
Given the fraught relationships between the characters, the viewer begins to question Mariam’s reliability as her point of view seems so at odds with others, and it is the perfect environment to breed the resulting ‘boy who cried wolf’ atmosphere.
Given the different experiences the sisters describe of childhood, it is interesting that Mariam and Dylan are portrayed as having different recollections of the same events. It is a frustrating theme seen all too often, with women’s entirely irrelevant pasts and sexual history brought up in court cases. Mariam may not be an entirely likeable character – but it doesn’t change the fact that we need to believe women. Despite this, Dylan’s protestations of innocence did make me wonder how much he was physically capable of taking responsibility for his actions.
The difference in their recollections of events were, at times, faint – with Dylan insisting Mariam had uttered ‘Don’t stop’, mere inflection away from her memory of pleading ‘Don’t, stop’. I found myself feeling bereft, wondering if the only way a woman can be heard is if she literally kicks and screams.
As events build, I felt myself tensing as it became apparent what was coming, and found I was getting more and more annoyed with Dylan’s ignorance. Whilst the audience notably feel the shift in vibe as Mariam prompts Dylan to retell his version of events, he remains oblivious – his mind (and very visibly other parts of his anatomy) focussed intensely on sex.
Whilst sequentially the next events are objectively brutal, they are conducted calmly, meticulously and with a sense of order that implies significant pre planning. Maybe I’m just twisted, but I wanted more. Mariam’s actions are neat and ordered – carried out as though she was neatly clearing out cupboard of junk and organising items to dispose of. I suppose in a way she was, and perhaps that is her dissociative way of dealing with it.
Violation is told out of sequence, with scenes jumping back and forward in time in a way that jumbles events and takes time to get things straight in the audience’s mind, a clever technique that helps the viewer feel unsettled as though trying to emulate the processing of acute trauma.
I don’t think I enjoyed Violation as much as some, but there is no denying it has a powerful message. As a woman viewing it for the first time, there are definitely some moments that will feel unnervingly familiar, and there is a lot to appreciate in the style and technique of the film. I feel it is the kind of movie that will prompt a lot of debate, and that can never be a bad thing. As women, we need to commit to talk more about our experiences and Violation has definitely helped to start some of these conversations.
If you have taken the time to read this post, I would urge you to spare anything you possibly can to the following cause :
Reclaim These Streets are raising money to donate to women’s charitable causes.
