Sundance and SXSW 2021: Violation: When Chemistry Turns Into A Nightmare

*Trigger Warning: Reference to Sexual Assault

Welcome to our coverage of SXSW 2021!

This year’s pick for our favorite in the Feature category is Violation from writer/director Dusty Mancinelli and writer/director/star Madeleine Sims-Fewer. I missed it’s debut at Sundance 2021, but was curious to catch it when I saw it also at SXSW 2021. Violation covers a topic so individual and devastating that if it wasn’t acted and filmed so masterfully, it would’ve been a terribly hard pill to swallow.

With stunning, sensual cinematography and two leads with off-the-charts chemistry, Violation delves deep into the darkness where sexuality crosses into violence and the capability of violence to send the human psyche into splintered hell.

The Energy Beneath the Flesh

Miriam (Sims-Fewer) and her partner, Caleb (Obi Abili) join Miriam’s sister Greta (Anna Maguire) and her husband Dylan, (Jesse LaVercombe) on a getaway trip to a remote cabin. Miriam is on the verge of a break up with Caleb as things haven’t worked out with him the way she wanted.

Sparks fly when Miriam sets out on a walk with Dylan. From the laughs to the subtle touches and body bumps, it is clear that there is something between them simmering beneath the surface. During a night by a campfire, when both of their partners go inside before them, Miriam and Dylan commence down a dangerous road, where attraction and chemistry turn into assumption and tragedy.

But when it comes to the subject of intimacy; assumption, driven by ego, privilege, alcohol and desire, become the poisonous accelerant capable of sparking off the flames of wrath.

Source: Shudder

Did I Imagine It?

The aftermath of sexual assault is terrifying and paradigm shifting to say the least. When clarity is clouded by substances, circumstance and attraction, it muddies the water even more. Questions abound in the victim’s mind and they also succumb to rampant, societal toxic masculinity causing shame and drawing ire from those who once supported them.

The process is so earth-shattering and painful it can drive someone to desperate acts, especially when, like most, the victim is not heard or helped. Miriam attempts to get solace from Greta regarding the nebulous event, desperately trying to show her who Dylan “really is”, but Greta isn’t capable of hearing it.

With an absence of support, Miriam’s own lack of clarity and her ever growing rage and shame, she ends up taking things in her own hands. But the vengeance she plans for turns awry over and over, putting her in a flaming tailspin that will claim her very soul.

In All Honesty…

No. Two letters. Seemingly so simple, but tends to fall upon deaf ears quite frequently. Especially in power struggles. No does NOT need to be stated to still be a no.

As the Tea Consent video states, “if someone is unconscious, don’t make them drink the tea”. “How silly”, one might think, “if someone is unconscious, they can’t drink tea”. Right. Now apply that to sex. Still seems pretty straightforward to me, yet way too many use “body part availability” and the impression of desire to turn a “no” into a perceived “yes”.

No, or any version of it, is Still. Fucking. No. Burn it on your brains.

Sims-Fewer and Mancinelli have created a visually gorgeous depiction of desire, darkness and despair with the phenomenal eye of cinematographer Adam Crosby. Crosby catapults us within the world of the characters and their emotions with plenty of “up close and personal” . Whether the shots are so detailed and graphic that it makes us flinch or so hazy that we aren’t quite sure where we are or what is happening, the audience is forced to engage.

Sometimes beautifully sensual and other times brutally visceral, like it or not, Violation leaves a strong impact on you. The brilliant way the film is edited and put together, there are plenty of surprises and shocking curveballs you never see coming.

Sims-Fewer and LaVercombe sizzle with a chemistry that can only set off a massive powder keg when things go wrong and hazy lines get crossed. Both of their intensities have a level of authenticity that can be utterly unsettling at times, but it creates a film with undeniable legitimacy and abrasive validity.

Brutal and heart-wrenching is the only way to describe Violation, for no detail, no matter how coarse, is held back. It is definitely not a film for the faint of heart, but its core is so full of veracity that anything less wouldn’t serve it. After all, sexuality, sexual assault and fury isn’t pretty or easy. We shouldn’t expect it to be here.

Source: Shudder

Violation is as beautiful as it is triggering. The beginning gives no indication of how merciless and inflammatory it is going to become, yet, when is violence ever charming and delightful? It is the cry of war built up within a person done wrong and the rallying cry of survivors of toxic masculinity everywhere. The pain is soul-destroying and the filmmakers have done it agonizing justice.

In this case, the film’s vulgarity and heavy-handedness works. It shows how something that started out so seemingly innocent can unknowingly change the course of someone’s life forever.

I can’t help but think, though, how easily these kinds of situations could be avoided if we just listened and actually heard each other, but the allure of power and entitlement is shamefully celebrated in our world. The Toxic Masculine burdensomely hangs over women’s shoulders everywhere, along with its consequences and the blame for it.

Can we blame victims for wanting to hurt the people who forced them to endure a murder of the soul? What if people just didn’t rape? What if the punishment for assault was as painful as surviving it?

What if no meant no and it was actually respected by every other human on the planet?