A tale of emancipation that lacks depth
In a remote fishing village, firstborn girls are thrown into the sea and sacrificed to the sirens, in a propitiatory rite that is repeated every full moon.
Hayat is initially rescued by her father, but years later, when his second son is born, he forces her to meet her destiny: she saves herself by managing to get out of the water carrying the body of a mermaid. Thanks to this, she manages, with difficulty, to integrate into the fishing community, transforming herself from victim to hunter: in fact, in a cyclical and paradoxical perpetuation of violence, the girls sacrificed to the sea become the mermaids that are caught in the fishermen's nets.
Hayat is a half-creature: distanced and marginalised by women, she cannot really fit into the world of men; she captures mermaids, but in part she is one herself. Her uniqueness is not motivated, we do not know how she managed to survive, nor how she hunts, yet this is the only element that justifies her emancipation, which is thus given a priori, diminishing the viewer's empathy and understanding.
Scales retains the elements of charm and mystery in the staging of the fairytale-like setting, but the potential effectiveness of the story is weakened by somewhat sketchy developments and a lack of real character development. Thus only its symbolic value remains.
Hayat is initially rescued by her father, but years later, when his second son is born, he forces her to meet her destiny: she saves herself by managing to get out of the water carrying the body of a mermaid. Thanks to this, she manages, with difficulty, to integrate into the fishing community, transforming herself from victim to hunter: in fact, in a cyclical and paradoxical perpetuation of violence, the girls sacrificed to the sea become the mermaids that are caught in the fishermen's nets.
Hayat is a half-creature: distanced and marginalised by women, she cannot really fit into the world of men; she captures mermaids, but in part she is one herself. Her uniqueness is not motivated, we do not know how she managed to survive, nor how she hunts, yet this is the only element that justifies her emancipation, which is thus given a priori, diminishing the viewer's empathy and understanding.
Scales retains the elements of charm and mystery in the staging of the fairytale-like setting, but the potential effectiveness of the story is weakened by somewhat sketchy developments and a lack of real character development. Thus only its symbolic value remains.
- theapinbetween
- Mar 28, 2021