The Woman

I found the music way more disturbing than anything in the film. The levels of the music were way too loud compared to the rest of the sounds in the film. I really wanted to enjoy this but the music ruined it. Seems like the director owed someone a favor or they held his family captive unless he put this music in his movie.

This is not a movie for all people. Well I was a bit tired when I started watching The Woman by the end of it I was wide awake and a little bit stunned. I'd definitely place this in a genre with the french movies Irreversible and Martyrs, horror with an underlying social message. Now I'm not going to get into that here as some have given this movie 1 and I'm not saying it is an epiphany or revelation but I see a lot in this movie even including the music choice as being relevant even though some have scorned it as simply bad and inappropriate. How you interpret the characters are portrayed is up to the viewer but they are acted quite well. For me the characters were symbolic in many aspects and this is a superior Horror, and horror it is. It certainly sucked me in and entrapped me in it's story. As a horror fan the large majority are predictable twaddle with people who can't run straight without falling over and generally panicking and making very bad decisions to further the plot. There were a few moments in The Woman I was approaching the feeling of - this wouldn't happen - but the good performances, underlying fear and intentionally off hand portrayal of sociopath tendencies by male lead kept me reeled tight to the story, and a story is what it is. For me I believe I 'got' this movie and i think it was well made and memorable.

Gory in parts, but some cracking performances by the actors, and though a slightly predictable plot, it kept me at the edge of my seat nearly all the way through. A powerful performance from Pollyanna McIntosh. She stole the movie. She has just the right amount of masculine feral power mixed with feminine vulnerability to make her character truly believable and you root for her and the final denouement all the way through the film. The air of menace mixed with devastating elements of bullying and cruelty by the sadistic father and his effect on the psyches of his family are well handled and plausible.

Highly recommended.

Not at all what I expected. It was rather intense at many different points throughout and the characters always had my full attention. A nice tight script, albeit with some lose ends that left me wondering why? But overall this is a really good film, if you don't mind some graphic scenes.

The Woman arrives on DVD and Bluray amidst almost a year of controversy and festival runs. The picture was accused of misogyny, horrific violence, and bad music. Two of these three things are true. Let's just say certain musical selections don't really make sense in a film of this subject, and the violence will surely have innocents running for the door. "The Woman" sports a deeply feminist view upon domestic violence and the domination of man over women in contemporary society. However the film does not focus it's killer's eyes on the disturbing, horrible men featured here. A crucial moment underlines the idea that we all have the power to change a lurid situation drastically, and if you do not seize that opportunity, you are just as guilty as an aggressor. My heart broke for all the women in this film, including the titular cannibal. They endure some of the worst male behavior ever seen in a suburban, or civilized, society and the violence that embeds the last half hour is blunt and brutal. Director Lucky McKee injects so much energy into this film, but he doesn't glorify the violence. It's the audience's choice, myself included, to crack a smile when certain characters get what's coming to them. Prepare to be made uncomfortable, disturbed, scared, and finally short of breath by The Woman.