Hunter, a newly pregnant housewife, finds herself increasingly compelled to consume dangerous objects. As her husband and his family tighten their control over her life, she must confront the dark secret behind her new obsession.
IFC’s most recent acquisition has one specific story on its mind. While ultimately political commentary (of the most deserved order) it feels alarmingly modern and conversely set somewhere in the ’50s. “Swallow”’s lush production design offers a window into a woman’s world where everyone wants to control her and no one wants to actually listen to her. Aside from delivering on its core premise, “Swallow” features an in-depth perspective on one woman’s desire to retake control of her life despite every person around her saying otherwise.
Haley Bennett plays Hunter. This woman, plucked from obscurity, looks like she woke up one day and found herself the wife of one powerful man and his family. Upon realizing she’s pregnant she develops the fascination with swallowing everyday items. Things like glass marbles, thumbtacks, batteries, they all go down the hatch. This compulsion of hers propels the narrative look at a woman with no control of her body being used by a family pretty much singularly to give birth.
Director Carlo Mirabella-Davis delivers on a film that centers around so much more than what it says it is. He clearly invests in his characters and the story revolves around Hunter and the insane family around her. Almost every scene drips with contempt for this family. Even if you disagree with the film’s politics you will agree these people are evil and controlling. Austin Stowell delivers the titular villain role as the corporate magnate with so little interest in his wife he completely ignores her over dinner (a scene so drippingly realistic you hurt to watch.) His mom, played by Elizabeth Marvel, and Dad, David Rasche, strongarm, manipulate, gaslight, and control poor Hunter throughout the entire film. They deliver performances so disdainful you want to reach through the screen and slap them.
So much of the film rests on Haley Bennett’s shoulders. Its shocking swallow-vomit scenes rely solely on her body movements. She can change her performance with a single eyebrow raise, delivering a new tone to the film. Her swallow gags made me choke a little bit (watching someone swallow a thumbtack is not for the faint of heart.)
Thankfully the film never languishes in the pain of swallowing terrifying things. It deftly escapes horror shock by implying it more than showing it. The few scenes incorporating an actual ‘swallow’ are played intensely throughout. Bennett consumes the object in a one-take that makes you wonder how they did it. The director made clear to us after no one swallowed anything in the making of this movie. That’s how realistic it felt.
I appreciated hearing the director speak. His story is truly fascinating and at the risk of minimalizing what sounds like a complex backstory, suffice it to say, the director knows fairly well what it means to be a woman. This contemporary take on male control of women’s bodies feeds directly into the pregnancy storyline directly courting commentary regarding abortion debates and rape culture. It may not side on the conservative end of the political spectrum but by tackling this issue head-on the film delivers its message without ever getting lost in the weeds. Unlike other films I’ve watched at Fantastic Fest, “Swallow” never loses sight of its characters and never escapes its imagery.
The film opens on the gorgeous home of what could easily be a 1950s housewife. We know it’s a modern time show (they have iPhones) we still feel trapped in the ’50s era gender politics as Hunter cooks dinner, the husband provides money. The camera centers itself level in every emotionally tranquil shot, but that tranquility is surface-level at best. When it needs to the camera turns handheld. The world surrounding Hunter crashes around her and even as she fights for control we literally see the world around her collapse; the 1950s catalog living room askew, the perfectly coiffed hair falling to pieces.
It’s an exciting premise: a housewife turns to eating household items to cope with her controlling husband. I was handed fake glass to eat “at a certain point of the movie.” I expected shock and awe, exploitation-level disgust. Instead, I received a profound character study that’s cinematic language exposes the unfairness of men’s treatment of women. Nothing disgusts us more than when the family gaslights her, tries to commit her. You just know once she has the baby they will abandon her. It wades deep into politics with a powerful thought on its mind. The final shot clearly demonstrates Hunter’s story is not as unique or wild as it sounds. This story of a woman, controlled by outside forces and forced to live as she’s told, could be the story of any woman. People need to see this film. All of us need to see this film. Oppression takes center stage in its most visceral form. No, it’s not as disgusting as you might imagine, but it is definitely more morally shocking and confrontational than any of the other movies I’ve seen so far this year. I, for one, am glad this filmmaker has something to say. It sharpens the film ax and delivers a taut thriller with such knack I may go back and watch it again out of pure joy.
“Swallow“ recently premiered at Fantastic Fest
