[Rating: Solid Rock Fist Up]
There’s a specific experience women have moving through this patriarchal world. There’s just a little something extra you have to bring – extra emotional control, extra attention to detail when retelling an experience (because it will be questioned), extra vigilance in your body language.
It’s exhausting and unavoidable – it’s a code we learn from a million small aggressions and dismissals. Get a group of women together and they’ve all got stories of minimizing, invalidating interactions they’ve had with (ugh) men.
The brilliance of Men, written and directed by Alex Garland (Ex Machina, Annihilation) is the acknowledgement and understanding this male writer/director brings to that experience. And the fun of it is watching him turn it into a horror movie – full of archetypes, cringey moments, and yucky body horror.
Harper (Jessie Buckley) has rented a beautiful old home in the English countryside to heal from the death of her husband, James (Paapa Essiedu). Upon arrival, she plucks an apple from a tree in the front yard, and we find ourselves in the Garden of Good and Evil. The allegory is intentional, and further cemented when the home’s landlord Jeffrey (superbly played with bland creepiness by Rory Kinnear) chides her for eating it.
As she moves through the little town, her interactions with the seemingly well-intentioned men populating the area are increasingly off-putting and frustrating. A naked man follows her out of the woods, the local vicar blames her for the suicide of her mentally unwell husband, and even a neighborhood boy taps into a particularly nasty vat of rage when she isn’t interested in playing with him.
The tangential female characters offer relief. Though Harper is primarily alone in this male dominated space, she does interact with two other women – her best friend via FaceTime, and a female police officer. The validation and reassurance of these characters are in sharp contrast to Harper’s interactions with the men.
Buckley is perfect – feminine in a pragmatic, no-nonsense sort of way, Harper maintains boundaries while also trying to preserve safety for herself. Her role is that of every female and earth mother – and she plays the character with a wiser, more authentic femininity – she’s not mother, whore, crone – she’s dimensional and wearing sensible shoes.
The men, however, are not dimensional, and they come in waves of archetypal toxic masculinity. The boy, the father, the protector, the priest – all interact with Harper based on what they want from her.
The movie is short – clocking at only an hour forty – but feels indulgent with time lapses of nature and lingering establishing shots. As the last third of the movie hits, all the ground work Garland laid with these characters becomes frantic and terrifying as the ancient energies vie to be seen and validated in their own right. Garland also poses an interesting theory about male creativity – and the idea that god made man in his own image. Garland also seems to suggest that yes, it is ALL men – because these behaviors and understandings are insidious to our culture and spiritual histories – regardless of how well-meaning.
Ultimately – the movie isn’t for everyone. Fans of Mother! and Hereditary will probably find something they enjoy here – the movie will stick in your brain for a day or two after, but the body horror/gross factor is significant for casual film goers, or those who don’t appreciate the horror genre.
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