31 Days of Fright, Day 24: The Woman

Welcome to day 24 of 31 Days of Fright here at Road To The Movies! In today's episode, Gabe goes to extremes with...

THE WOMAN
2011
Rated R

This ain't no date movie. Unless, of course, the story of a family who captures a feral woman in the wild, chains her up in their cellar, and proceeds to collectively "civilize" her sounds like a date movie. If you meet someone who thinks this does sound like a date movie, you should probably either run like hell, or marry them immediately, depending on your particular persuasion. That actually sums this movie up nicely.

I first heard of Lucky McKee's The Woman shortly after its film festival premier (the name of the festival escapes me, but it may have been Sundance), because a guy in the audience caused quite a ruckus when - just after the movie ended - he stood up in his chair and started shouting his revulsion at the movie's degradation of women. I can't argue that the women in the movie are literally treated like animals, but that's clearly not the point of the story, and I have to wonder if the whole thing wasn't just a stunt pulled by the filmmakers to garner some press for a movie that, in all likelihood, would never have made it onto most people's radars.

Don't take that to mean that I think The Woman is a bad movie. And when I say bad, I'm not referring to morality. While the pure, brutal misogyny of the male lead is clearly going to be too much for even some dedicated horror fans, I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about filmmaking. Director Lucky McKee has quite a following - albeit, of the cult variety - and not without reason. He's clearly got a vision, and though there were many aspects of the movie I didn't like, I did feel that it was effective and that its scope became clear by the end.

The Woman is a movie that deals in extremes. Extreme misogyny, extreme submissiveness, extreme abuse, extreme retribution. This is both its strength and weakness. The extremities of the situation do make sympathetic characters even more sympathetic and the ending - which you can see coming as soon as you learn the setup - that much more satisfying, but the trouble is that the extremes carry beyond the story and into the performances. There is no nuance on display here, no subtle characterization. All of the characters are cartoons, and - at least for the first half of the movie - it's quite off-putting.

My biggest hangup with this film is that I just can't picture a world in which the titular Woman could even exist. When we first meet her, though her clothing is ragged and filthy, it's clearly manufactured, and she's carrying a knife straight out of an Eddie Bauer catalogue. So she's getting her supplies from somewhere, and given her apparent nature, I'm guessing the people she's getting them from aren't surviving to tell the tale. So, if people are going missing in her neck of the woods, and if she's so lackadaisical about keeping hidden that a guy who thinks smoking while hunting is going to help him bag a deer could happen upon her and go unnoticed, why hasn't she been caught already? I know that this is a moment where I should just suspend my disbelief and accept it as a given for the sake of the story, but it bugged me the whole time I was watching.

In the end, though the setup of the movie bothered me and I felt the performances were one-dimensional, there is something to be said for a movie that can seriously disturb me at this point in my horror fandom. Lucky McKee is a talented storyteller, though I think he should look into finding actors who can do more than the hundred-yard stare to indicate inner turmoil. Though I hated elements, I didn't hate the movie as a whole, and though I did see everything coming a mile away, it still managed to shock. It ain't perfect, but it ain't bad. Just don't watch it on date night.

6.5/10

-GABE


Thanks for riding along! Be sure to click on the banner below to check out our YouTube channel, where you can watch our videos, "like" them, subscribe to the channel, leave a comment or a question, or even suggest a movie for future review. You can also check us out on Facebook (CLICK HERE) and Twitter (CLICK HERE). And don't forget to check back every day in October for a new installment in our 31 Days of Fright!