The Woman

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.

I agree with most of the other 5-6-7 star reviews. Read those for an idea of what you're in for. But dang, that "soundtrack" is terrible. Rather than using music that elevate the scenes, the film forces us to listen to entire songs -wuth lyrics - at almost every turn, and those songs have little to do with what's happening on screen. Like the director took a demo tape from his buddy's garage band and said "Sure, this'll do". Really the weakest part of the movie.

I am not sure if this is a dark comedy, og a thriller? Its not a horror! The film gets more and more sick, to a point where you have to laugh. Its well made. The acting is okay. The music seems to be very loud compared to talking and other sounds.... I found it entertaining, and I still think about it, here two days after watching it :-)

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.

This well-made horror films starts off as a disquietening and disturbing tale of female suppression and toxic, fascistoid male dominance till it culminates in a wildly gory and shocking finale with some twists and an ambiguous open ending.