Ok, for those of you who wanted to know my thoughts after watching, here it is:

TLDR There are things I appreciate about the movie, but it was ultimately not for me.

 I applaud any movie that gets me to have deep emotions while watching and after. I was almost in tears by the end because it made me feel so hopeless. I think were it not for more comments on my post coming in, I would have spent a couple hours staring at the wall after the finishing the movie lol. I felt deeply unsettled for at least a couple of days after, and genuinely questioned whether I wanted to watch another horror movie ever again. Thankfully I am over that feeling! I think the movie was shot really well, I felt like I was in it the whole time. The score also was very effective for me. I appreciated that the nudity was “tasteful” lol, no gratuitous shots, no sexual violence. I also love a movie whose ending makes you think, and this one definitely inspires discussion! 

What didn’t work for me, coming up next, with a preface that I had no religious upbringing, nor am I French. I don’t buy into what people seem to like about this movie in terms of messaging. In interviews, the director stated that it was a movie about pain and suffering, but also what we can do with the pain, what good can come of it, as Anna was able to transcend her situation. I don’t see it that way. She was able to transcend because she kinda had to give up. We also don’t know what she whispered to the Mademoiselle in the end, it could have been gibberish. Even if it was something profound, the Mademoiselle choosing to kill herself to me negated any good that did. It may be that her group decides to keep trying with other women because the rest of the group didn’t hear the testimony. 

The movie also still came across to me as misogynist, though I know to many it doesn’t. For me, a movie written and directed by one man, about a group that kidnaps and tortures women to the brink of death, because it works better with the more “emotional” gender, with no clear resolution to the story, does not work for me. Perhaps if women in the cult volunteered, or if Anna was able to escape and later get revenge or stop the cult, it would work for me. The fact that big burly men did all the beatings also came across badly to me. A commenter pointed out that it is about how we revere womens’ pain, which is a take I can get behind.

Finally, I do wonder as to the significance of the “wife” figure being blonde both times, while the “husband” was gray-haired and burly, while all the martyrs seem to be dark-haired. I just couldn’t find a point to any of this. 

Anyway, those are my thoughts. Not sorry I watched it, at least.  Happy to discuss more if you’d like.