The Woman (2011)

I could make out the telltale signs ahead of time for what anyone is in for with this raging beast of a movie—not sure how the movie itself escaped my notice. Maybe I'm running in the wrong circles. The tweeter whose post drew me to it was still in delirious shock from seeing it. The source novel and screenplay were cowritten by Jack Ketchum and director Lucky McGee. Another novel by Ketchum, The Girl Next Door, is so universally cited among the most disturbing things people have ever read that I'm still afraid to look into it further. From the synopses for The Woman at IMDb—which I read later, going into the picture mostly blind—I can see now it might be useful to read the novel before seeing the movie. There are various details about the universe of the picture that weren't entirely clear or explained, notably the high incidence of feral human beings. That includes chiefly our title character, played by Pollyanna McIntosh with poise and savage relish. For me, the ready acceptance of feral humans in this movie was itself so persistently disorienting I have to wonder if the explanations for it wouldn't weaken the impact. I really recommend seeing this one as blind as you can, but the faint of heart will want to approach with caution. I will say I spent a lot of the running time of The Woman gaping and shocked. The feral woman is captured and kept in the basement of an upstanding citizen and his family. He also keeps vicious dogs down there. Other things are going on too. More is revealed and the ending is so sublimely riveting and ludicrously over the top that time itself seems to stand still. But I've already said too much. Any attempts at summary are just going to spoil it. The Woman had a lot of surprises for me. I wouldn't be surprised if it has them for you too. Are there really such things in this world at all? I think the answer might be yes. It's patriarchy.

See DoestheDogDie report.