Weird rape-revenge comedy, “a messy and boisterous romp that otherwise exalts (sic) in the female body from its very first shot”
It’s hard to remember the last time a director prominently displayed their own vagina onscreen. Statistically speaking, most of them wouldn’t be able to do it if they tried. But Noémie Merlant has never shied away from an opportunity to redefine how female bodies are depicted on film, and her recent pivot behind the camera has only emboldened her. Her character’s pursuit of an abortion leads her to the world’s most apathetic gynecologist, who instructs Élise to place her feet in the stirrups and point her body towards the audience as she waits and waits and waits to be examined.
There is also a squirting scene with Souheila Yacoub, who is topless throughout the film.
I actually want to see this regardless of the naughty stuff. A violent horror comedy? Take my money.
“director prominently displayed their own vagina onscreen.”
“Their” own vagina, not “her” own vagina? Is Merlant gender fluid? Or has Merlant declared “Merlant’s pronouns to be “they/them?”
Or is it now common practice to throw out normal English grammar and adapt to these new pronoun choices, regardless of what the subject might prefer?
My dude, they’re using “they” there for director, not specifically Merlant, the way we always have. Hell, the joke in the next line “Statistically speaking, most of them wouldn’t be able to do it if they tried” is a joke about how most directors don’t have vaginas. Or are you just looking to be offended instead of understanding English grammar?
The use of “they” wasn’t an instance of PC. As anonymous noted above, the author had to cobble the words to make the joke work, and did a clumsy job of it. Neither “his” nor “her” would work in context, and “his or her” would step on the punchline. It would have worked better to write, “It’s hard to remember any other directors displaying their own vaginas onscreen. Statistically speaking, most of them wouldn’t be able to do it.” But movie reviewers are not Jerry Seinfeld, so they seldom obsess about how to optimize the verbiage needed to deliver a joke.
Thanks for your explanation, Scoop. I wasn’t really trying to be a grammar Nazi, despite what the rude Anonymous seems to think.
I’m actually curious to see this scene. It may be the most explicit scene that a relatively mainstream actress has done in many years in cinema. If it’s her real vagina, it could also be a prosthetic or CGI. But I think the chance of it being her real vagina is great, even because she is the director and screenwriter of the film, she simply wouldn’t need to do this scene if she didn’t want to.
Director Ninja Thyberg filmed herself shaving her own vagina for the 2021 film Pleasure.
Do you know what a vagina is? Do you really think it’s possible (or wise) to shave it?
Sigh. I suppose it’s a losing battle to note in 99.99999% of these shots they are talking about the vulva, not the vagina. You’d need one of those snake cameras like plumbers use to see the vagina.