The Woman is a horror film.
The basics are that there’s a woman (her character is just named The Woman) who lives out in the woods. She is wild, a part of nature, it’s alluded to that she was raised by wolves, and upon our first meeting with her - she kills ones with her bare hands.
She doesn’t speak English, she wears barely-there jungle clothing, she’s an animal - and yet she’s somehow managed to give herself Bettie Page style fringe. Maybe she used a sharp rock and her reflection in a nearby pond. Who knows.
The Woman is spotted bathing (surprise!) in a river by lawyer Chris Cleek and he, naturally, feels the need to capture her and keep her in the cellar of his house to train her and teach her the ways of the civilized.
He’s helped in this "raining” by his sadistic son Brian, his wife, Belle - who seems either medicated to the high heavens or simply so worn out by being with a man like Chris that she can barely speak - and his daughters Peggy (16, depressed and with a secret) and Darlin’, who likes to bite the heads off of gingerbread men.
There are apparently “feminist themes” throughout this film because there is sexual violence, rape, and heaping amounts of misogyny dished out freely and proudly by Chris, and eventually his son. The poster features The Woman in her bloodied, torn dress which clings tightly to her bustline, covered in gore and holding a recently used weapon. We’re meant to think of her as a heroine. The strap-line reads: “Hell hath no fury...”
I wonder how long it took them to come up with that.
Now, I don’t want to spoil anything for you here, so if you really want to be surprised when watching this film, I wouldn’t read much further - but this film is not feminist. Yes, it shows that men can be pigs, men can be rapists and men can teach their sons to be the same - but I believe there are other ways to show this than to show us detailed, graphic scenes where every woman in the film is cursed at, punched, or - in some cases - eaten alive.
The “strong” women in this film are wild, and then they are chained and whipped in to something resembling submission. They behave like cannibalistic canines. The “civilized” women are scared of Chris, pale, weak, crying and then usually punched. Sometimes they speak up, but are usually just physically struck down. (See how empowering this is?) And then, our heroine - she who been sexually assaulted and raped by both males in the Cleek household - unleashes her vengeful fury and kills everyone. Everyone except Darlin’ and Peggy. Because they’re women and without her accepting them as her own, this film wouldn’t be feminist. Or something.
I appreciate the attempt at there being a horror film that’s of the feminist persuasion or with a strong female character - but a thirst for vengeance should not be the only characteristic a stronge heroine should have in an action film. Just because she wants to go kill people doesn’t make her strong. Just because you have women with guns in films doesn’t make them empowering characters, and I’m confused by why male directors and male writers think fetishizing violent women is the same as writing an intelligent film with strong female leads. This is something Joss Whedon accomplished back in the ‘90s with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, why do the masses still find this so difficult?
Bottom line, if you’re looking for a feminist horror film, The Woman isn’t it.
The film was cleverly done, has occasional moments of (dark) laughter, but it isn’t enjoyable to watch. The characters are generally unlikeable, and the gore borders on being over the top. Now, if this film had a message or was a commentary on misogyny in western society, etc - it might make sitting through a slow plot line and the perversions of a sexually disturbed teenage boy tolerable - but The Woman is neither enjoyable or intelligent. It attempts to say something about how men think and treat women, but does it by exploiting and showing us down to every last detail just how sick Brian and Chris are. No justice, no empowering scenes of the women rebelling, just more boring gore and vengeance.
The Woman is in UK cinemas this Friday, 30 September, and in limited cities in the US on 14 October.