Swallow (2019)

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Movie
Original title Swallow
Country of production France , USA
original language English
Publishing year 2019
length 94 minutes
Rod
Director Carlo Mirabella-Davis
script Carlo Mirabella-Davis
production Mollye Asher ,
Carole Baraton ,
Frédéric Fiore ,
Adam Kersh
music Nathan Halpern
camera Katelin Arizmendi
cut Joe Murphy
occupation

Swallow (English for "swallow") is a psychological thriller by Carlo Mirabella-Davis , which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2019 and was released in French cinemas on January 15, 2020. In the film, a pregnant woman named Hunter Conrad, played by Haley Bennett , suffers from pica syndrome, which manifests itself in the consumption of inedible small items.

action

The former saleswoman Hunter Conrad, who comes from a humble background, has everything she always wanted. In the wealthy entrepreneur Ritchie, she has found a husband who enables her to live a carefree life. The young couple has not lacked anything since Ritchie's entry into his father's expensive company. When Hunter finally gets pregnant, the future could hardly look more promising. Hunter lived up to expectations. In her role as housewife and mother-to-be, she spends the days alone in the magnificent property on the Hudson River.

As soon as an increasing boredom sets in in the lonely house, Hunter begins to swallow small objects, including a marble up to a battery. What she has absorbed, she proudly arranges on a tray, neatly washed, and neatly washed.

Hidden from family and in-laws, Hunter's eating disorder intensifies rapidly. When, during a sonographic examination, to which she accompanies Ritchie, various foreign objects are found in her stomach, an immediate operation follows. Shocked by Hunter's eating disorder, the nurse Luay is brought to her side to prevent further incidents of this kind. Further losses of control ultimately ensure that stricter measures are taken by the in-laws and admission to a psychiatric clinic is imminent. Plagued by guilt and caught up with her own past, Hunter finally breaks free from Ritchie and the once-happy life.

The pica syndrome

The Pica (after "Pica" for the "Magpie") is an emotional disorder that causes the need to consume inedible things. Picacism, which is also common for this form of obsessive-compulsive disorder , was used to describe unusual cravings in pregnant women.

In Hunter's case, obsessive-compulsive disorder occurs after she learns she is pregnant. She grapples with the fact that her body is no longer her own and chooses this unusual means to restore a measure of her personal capacity to act. In the program of the Film Festival Münster it is said that the film asks provocative questions about “the expectations of women, the control of women over their own bodies and the psychologically harmful effects of patriarchal culture.” When Ritchie learns about his wife's obsessive-compulsive disorder and wants to understand it When asked why, Hunter replied to her husband, “I wanted to do it, and that's how I did it.” When asked how she felt after “swallowing”, Hunter explains to her therapist that eating objects made her feel to be in control.

Appropriate supervision, as in the film by the carer Luay, is an appropriate measure in medicine when there is danger to one's own life or to an unborn child.

production

Film staff, idea and cast

Haley Bennett stars in Hunter Conrad

Carlo Mirabella-Davis made his debut as a director and screenwriter on a feature film with Swallow . Mirabella-Davis said he contacted Dr. Rachel Bryant-Waugh, the world's leading expert on pica syndrome, who provided him with a case study on Hunter based on the script.

The director based Hunter's character on his grandmother, who had an unhappy marriage in the 1950s and developed various disorders to cope with her life as a housewife. At the doctors' encouragement, his grandfather had taken her to a mental hospital, where she received electroshock therapy and a non-consensual lobotomy that caused her to lose her sense of taste and smell. In order to depict Hunter as a housewife and a fragile doll who seems to have been thrown from the 1950s into the present, the makers of the film used a series of cinematic references. For Haley Bennett , who took on the lead role of Hunter Conrad, the inspirations were Catherine Deneuve in the role of Carole Ledoux in Disgust and Kim Stanley in her "double role" as the initial country man and later glamorous diva in The Goddess .

Austin Stowell plays Hunter's husband Richie and David Rasche and Elizabeth Marvel whose parents Michael and Katherine Conrad. Laith Nakli plays Hunter's minder Luay. Denis O'Hare , Luna Lauren Velez and Zabryna Guevara can also be seen in other roles .

Filming, equipment and costumes

The film was shot in the spring of 2018 in the New York boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn , also in Ulster County, where the film mansion of Hunter and Richie is located, in the city of White Plains , and in the Hudson Valley in the US state of New York . Katelin Arizmendi acted as camerawoman . The Hollywood Reporter's Caryn James notes that Arizmendi recorded the items Hunter brought back to daylight in the bathroom to make them look slightly larger than they are.

The set was created by Erin Magill , the house with its large picture window and elegant furniture in the 1960s look or from the mid-20th century. The costumes are from Liene Dobraja . Hunter's deepest desire to become an artist is reflected not only in the candy-colored decor of the house, but also in her wardrobe, says Lee Jutton of Inquiry . Although the film is not set in the middle of the 20th century, production designer Magill and costume designer Dobraja decided together to integrate Hunter's outfits into this out-of-time environment. This should complement Haley's portrayal of a woman trying to fit in and threatening to lose herself as a result, Magill said.

Film music and publication

The film music was composed by Nathan Halpern . The soundtrack album with 23 tracks was released for download on March 27, 2020 by Lakeshore Records.

The film premiered on April 28, 2019 at the Tribeca Film Festival . In July 2019 it was screened at the Fantasia Film Festival, in August 2019 at the Melbourne International Film Festival and in September 2019 at the American Film Festival in Deauville , where it was nominated in the main competition. It was released in French cinemas on January 15, 2020.

reception

Reviews

So far, the film has won over 88 percent of Rotten Tomatoes ' critics and received an average rating of 7.5 out of a possible 10 points.

David Ehrlich of IndieWire writes that Swallow is a lot of suspense, but much of this perverted story comes closer to satire, for example when Hunter smiles through the first two acts like the cat that caught a canary. Carlo Mirabella-Davis concentrates heavily in his film on the cathartic liberation that Pica gives her in a world that limits her. In the third act, Hunter explodes, contrary to all expectation of this woman, and takes control of her situation in a way that seemed impossible until she had learned to open her mouth. This poignant look at female suppression may feel a little familiar for most of the time, Ehrlich said, but the film's closing passage shows in a rousing way that even in the 21st century, some stories end regrettably and are therefore timeless.

Caryn James of The Hollywood Reporter thinks that even if Hunter lives in the 21st century as if she were a woman from the 1950s to convey the theme of misogyny , the figure seems too shallow and too retro to embody the subjugated femininity . James positively emphasizes that Haley Bennett in the role of Hunter, after she has escaped her husband and tracked down her biological father, is allowed to show what she can do.

In his review, Chuck Bowen of Slant Magazine writes that Bennett oscillates between learned indifference and total despair. You catch the pain like an actress who feels trapped in her own role. If Hunter's backstory is told in retrospective memories throughout the entire film, including patriarchal atrocities against women, such as rape, this dilutes the evocative premise that Swallow becomes less of a body horror film than a " MeToo " parable, so Bowen.

Gross profit

The film grossed around $ 263,000 worldwide. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic , the film had to struggle with a "low" box office result.

Awards

American Film Festival 2019

  • Nomination in the main competition (Carlo Mirabella-Davis)
  • Awarded the special prize (Carlo Mirabella-Davis)

Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival 2019

  • Awarded the International Critics' Prize of the Festival (Carlo Mirabella-Davis)

Sitges Film Festival 2019

  • Nomination for Best Film in the Official Fantàstic Competition (Carlo Mirabella-Davis)

Tribeca Film Festival 2019

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Eric Kohn, David Ehrlich and Kate Erbland: Memo to Distributors: Buy These 2019 Tribeca Film Festival Movies. In: indiewire.com, May 4, 2019.
  2. ↑ Swallow. In: filmfestival-muenster.org. Retrieved March 25, 2020.
  3. ↑ a b Lee Jutton: Swallow: The Limits Of Control. In: filminquiry.com, March 11, 2020.
  4. ↑ a b c d Caryn James: 'Swallow': Film Review. In: The Hollywood Reporter, April 28, 2019.
  5. ^ A b Ryan Lattanzio: With Arthouse Shocker 'Swallow', Haley Bennett Tackles the Feminine Mystique in a Breakout Performance. In: indiewire.com, March 5, 2019.
  6. ↑ Lena Wilson: 'Swallow' Director Carlo Mirabella-Davis Talks Body Horror And Telling A Story Of Female Trauma As A Male Director - Interview. In: The Playlist, March 14, 2020.
  7. ↑ a b Amie Cranswick: Exclusive Interview - Production Designer Erin Magill talks about her latest feature Swallow and more. In: flickeringmyth.com, March 21, 2020.
  8. ↑ 'Swallow' soundtrack details. In: filmmusicreporter.com, March 26, 2020.
  9. ^ Rob Hunter: Genre Films from Around the World Head to Fantasia Film Festival 2019. In: filmschoolrejects.com, June 27, 2019.
  10. ↑ Swallow. In: miff.com. Retrieved July 9, 2019.
  11. ^ Rhonda Richford: Deauville American Film Festival to Screen Nate Parker's 'American Skin'. In: The Hollywood Reporter, August 22, 2019.
  12. ↑ Swallow. In: Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved July 8, 2020.
  13. ↑ David Ehrlich: 'Swallow' Review: Haley Bennett Is Extraordinary in Thriller About a Housewife with a Dangerous Habit. In: indiewire.com, April 28, 2019.
  14. ↑ Chuck Bowen: Film Review: Swallow Is a Provocative Me Too Parable in Body-Horror Guise. In: slantmagazine.com, February 26, 2020.
  15. ↑ Swallow. Retrieved April 19, 2020 .
  16. ↑ Maximilien Pierrette: Deauville 2019: Kristen Stewart, Orelsan, Sophie Turner, Game of Thrones, Pierce Brosnan ... Tout sur la sélection. In: allocine.fr, 22 August 2019. (French)
  17. ^ Festival de Deauville: le Grand Prix pour "Bull". In: Le Parisien, September 14, 2019.
  18. ↑ NIFFF 2019: list of winners. In: nifff.ch. Retrieved March 25, 2020.
  19. ↑ The eagerly-awaited 'Ready or Not', the Lovecraftian 'Color Out of Space' and the Spanish-Argentinean co-production '4x4', leading off the preview of new Sitges 2019 titles. In: sitgesfilmfestival.com, August 30, 2019.
  20. ↑ Here are the Winners of the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival's Juried Awards. In: tribecafilm.com. Retrieved March 24, 2020.