Film Review: Flowers

CW: rape, discussion of violence against women.

As pretentious as this might sound, as an art film Flowers is more of an experience than a piece of entertainment. There is no “plot” as such, and no dialogue; to understand the story being told you have to lose yourself in it.

Flowers shows us six murdered women journeying through a labyrinthine suburban house which has become their hellish afterlife. Although I was intrigued by the premise I’ll admit I had some misgivings. It’s all too easy for this sort of thing to slip into lazy misogyny, we’ve all seen it before; what I would describe as the rapist’s gaze: the camera leering at a screaming and mostly nude woman. 

Thankfully, Flowers does not fall into this trap. It does not feel voyeuristic or fetishistic at all. We see from the perspective of the victims, not the predator, and so the horror is intense. The killer looms above us, smearing our gore across his naked genitals… and at that moment I had to pause to breathe. And that was not the last time. 

This film is as intimate as it is grotesque, even as I squirmed watching a woman fingering her own post-mortem incisions the weight of her tragedy sat heavy. There are extreme and gruesome visuals used throughout the film but it never plays for cheap shock value, the horror is where it belongs; the untimely violent deaths of vulnerable women. I don’t want to preach here but I feel this is so important; violence against women is so normalised both in fiction and real life (and the horror genre certainly has things to answer for), we need hard-hitting art like this to impart the real gravity of it, and to remember that what happened to the women we’re watching happens every day.

The mundanity of the house setting helps drive this home. It is disgusting, full of vermin and filth, but you could recognise it on any street. I also want to give credit to the actors here, the killer and the women all look very ordinary and even without dialogue they tell so much through their sheer physical presence and facial expressions.

Here I think I should add I watched this with headphones, and I think that is the best way to experience it. There may be no dialogue, but this film is far from silent; creaking, dripping, squelching all around, creating a thickly oppressive atmosphere. I suffer from mild claustrophobia, so this combined with scenes of the girls struggling through tight spaces was uncomfortable in the best possible way.

I thoroughly enjoyed Flowers but I have to say it will not be for everyone. It is triggering, disgusting, and requires the viewer’s full attention, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this review has put someone thoroughly off. If you are up to it though, I would urge you to see it. It is the purest kind of horror experience, and we need more of it in this world.

Review by Dai Baddley
Twitter @PreparetoDai