preview

Anatomy Of Hell Analysis

Good Essays

Catherine Breillat is another filmmaker that criticizes the aesthetics and societal demands to fit into the norms of femininity and the burden it brings to the female sex. In her film, Anatomy of Hell, she indulges in taboos and the society's indifference towards the female sex to shine a light on the traditional and oppressive views of the female body and human sexuality. She explicitly explores the depths of the female’s sex and indulges in the men’s view of the female body and the feelings it brings about. The film follows a man and a woman in a four day exploration of women's sexuality in a secluded home where the woman is in her most vulnerable stage (nudity) in hopes of understanding how men view women. The film opens up with her in a gay club where she is openly isolated as the only woman and excluded in her otherness. She is surrounded by men on men sexual activity through kissing, dancing, and oral stimulation. The scene overwhelming indulges in the isolation of women in their femininity and thus becomes a metaphor for women’s place in the world and society. Their appearance is viewed as that of Other where they can not appear and move in the same way as men and this scene explicitly shows how excluded women feel from public space in a society dominated by man. The woman enters this scene and feels overwhelmed by the masculinity surrounding her and the inferiority imposed on her through their immense presence, so she goes to the bathroom where she brushes past a man who actually sees her. She sees him the way he sees her and goes to commit suicide. In an interview with Breillat, she states “More than desire, she is looking for her sexual identity, for her ‘self.’ For her, he is a kind of image. It’s not a club for homosexuals, it’s a club where men come together, men who don’t like women, and there are many places on the planet where men don’t like women. It’s an allegory” (Kevin Murphy, Hell’s Angels: An Interview with Catherine Breillat on Anatomy of Hell). Being in a room surrounded by men that hate her, she goes to end her life. She slits her wrist and the man walks in and stops the bleeding. He asked “Why did you do that?” in which she replied “Because I’m a woman” (Catherine Breillat, Anatomy of

Get Access