Women in Horror Month: A Movie Review of “Violation”

Violation (2020)

I would implore you to go through the thorough list of content warnings before pressing play on this one. My five star rating does not equate a recommendation!!

TW: on screen sexual assault/rape, sexual trauma, extreme gaslighting, dismissal of traumatic event by family member, victim blaming, toxic masculinity and extreme misogyny, extreme violence towards women, horrible violent men, capture and death of an animal, skinning of an animal, animals being dismembered, spiders, insects, suffocation/asphyxiation, full frontal male nudity, on screen very graphic murder, graphic vomiting on screen, dead bodies, domestic violence, PTSD and emotional breakdown, panic attacks, relationship trauma, family trauma, suicidal ideation and description of suicide

Will be frank with y’all: it literally took me three hours to finish watching this because I got up and took a break and did some dishes three times in between just to cope. It would’ve been nearly unwatchable if I’d tried to digest the whole 107 minutes in one go. It is not remotely an easy or enjoyable watch. In fact, if you’re a victim of sexual violence, I might suggest buddy watching with someone who makes you feel safe, pacing yourself with breaks as I did, or perhaps just skipping it entirely. It’s not going to be a good time.

Rape-revenge is a very popular genre for good reason, but if you are seeking a cathartic tale of satisfying revenge with a lot of blood and guts that make you cheer? You’re going to be sorely disappointed with the utterly unglamorous depictions of violence and emotional trauma that encapsulate the rape and revenge in this movie. Choose another movie if you want guts and glory, because all you’ll find here is hurling, hurt, and heartache. There is no shouting “good for her,” because nothing is good here for anyone. That being said, it’s a mindbogglingly successful movie thanks to truly spectacular visuals and an unsettling musical score. It’s perfect and succeeds at what it aims to do — make you irrevocably miserable and uncomfortable.

I hated every second of it for good reason, and if you like this I’m going to be concerned. But also: GODS BLESS MADELEINE SIMS-FEWER FOR WHAT SHE HAS CONTRIBUTED TO FEMINIST CINEMA AND CINEMA AS A WHOLE WITH THIS FILM. Ugh BLESS her this is difficult work and she’s done it and the world is better because of it. Bless her for writing and directing and starring and bearing so much on the screen with such brutally open honesty and emotion. Ugh! Let me recap a little:

Miriam is working through a sexual assault and rape at the hands of her brother-in-law Dylan, and the events are interspersed with clips of her in emotional turmoil leading up to an act of revenge, and after. Be forewarned — midway through the movie viewers will be graced the assault, followed by additional scenes of abysmal gaslighting. (It’s trying, at best, but re-traumatizing at worst, so be cautious.) Then the rest of the film chronicles her ultimate unraveling and aftermath. There isn’t a single second that isn’t a brutal emotional rollercoaster!

(This Dylan guy is an absolute dillweed of a personality prior to The Event and truly proves himself a reprehensible monster after the fact anyway. Real “winner” here for a brother-in-law, and I cannot even fathom any reason for her sister choosing this nasty raw chicken nugget of a man to begin with!?? Ew!)

Anyway, Dylanweed aside, this movie is exquisitely shot and hauntingly poetic in its approach to such a difficult subject. The transitions between events and time jumps are terrifyingly beautiful, interspersed with sprawling landscapes, macro shots of insects and decaying plants, dark and brooding imagery of predator versus prey, etc. Even the most difficult scenes are slightly softened around the edges with a haze, giving some of the most brutal moments nightmarish dream state quality. 

The composition and framing of characters during key conversations as we watch Miriam unravel, while we piece together the obvious clues, are jarring and off balance, but that’s exactly the point. It draws you further into Miriam’s despondent emotional state. Later on, the use of close-ups of Miriam while she’s enacting her revenge and during her subsequent emotional breakdown enhance the harrowing distress. Reusing some of the same angles and closeup shots from scenes before/during the assault in the scenes taking place after the fact creates a strange dissonance, but it adds to the power and energy. And whew, all of the sound effects are equally miserable and frightening, but incredibly effective and evoke some very bad brain bits on the unsuspecting. 

If this review seems all over the place, it’s because my brain is doing its best to process the entirety of what I’ve just seen. It isn’t the clean, cathartic revenge you will want your final girl to have. It’s messy. It’s brutal. It’s unflinching and not remotely healing. It’s a full dose of trauma to the brain at an excruciatingly slow pace. It’s gross and it’s graphic, and absolutely obliterates anything else I’ve seen in the rape-revenge genre.

Please, let my review serve as a warning to those who have it in their queue. I thought I was prepared for what I was going to watch and experience, but I wasn’t. I couldn’t be. You can’t be. It’s a visceral experience you can’t scrub from your brain no matter how hard you try, but that’s precisely what makes it so hideously effective at what it sets out to do. And if you’re brave enough to withstand the lashing for the 107-minute runtime, you’ll see what I mean when I say it is simultaneously the best-worst. I can’t in good conscience wholly recommend this to a wide audience, or much of anyone really unless you’re an emotional masochist, but I’m also glad I’ve seen it and can appreciate its iconic place in the genre. I’m just never willingly watching it again.

On a scale of 1 to Requiem for a dream, this is just below requiem for me.

Review by Ellen Avigliano
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