Tara Thorne ‘s #metoo Revenge Thriller COMPULSUS is Poetry of Women’s Rage
Tara Thorne’s #metoo Revenge Thriller COMPULSUS is Poetry of Women’s Rage — review from Oxford Film Festival
Compulsus opens with Wally (Lesley Smith) speaking at a poetry slam night in a bar, recalling a dream about metaphorical plant bulbs and a grandmother digging them in the dirt. It may seem to be a moment establishing character, but it’s more. It’s a cue that the entire movie is, in itself, slam poetry, sometimes contradictory, sometimes emotionally bare, often in your face, frequently primal. It’s writer-director Tara Thorne’s truth, and while some of its points may seem contradictory, she dares you to take it all in.
Wally flirts with a female patron afterward, then listens to her straight friends talk about their awful experiences with men. They share stories about shitty dates and violent sex.
Tara Thorne ‘s #metoo Revenge Thriller COMPULSUS is Poetry of Women’s Rage
The name doesn’t come up directly, but many of the stories sound inspired by Jian Ghomeshi, the Canadian broadcaster and musician who presented as a feminist ally only to be accused of violent non-consensual sex by multiple partners. All the bad guys have circles of friends that shield them from too many consequences, the ladies lament. Wally would like to think better of humanity, but then she’s not the one who has to date men. Meanwhile, her pals fantasize about a hypothetical better world in which male abusers would suffer violence for their transgressions.
Since poetry’s not much of a living, Wally writes instruction manuals professionally, which arguably ought to make her a decent match for Lou (Kathleen Dorian), a court stenographer who would have liked to be a lawyer instead. As a bisexual woman, Lou has mainly left men in the past for the reasons previously discussed. And as Wally tells her, “I used to think being a man-hating lesbian was a bad attitude, but time has proven us right.”
Invigorated by their first date, Wally spontaneously decides on the way home to stalk one of the previously discussed abusive men when he inadvertently crosses her path. Following him to a parking garage, she ambushes and kicks the crap out of him. She takes no credit, but the next day gets to hear from her friends about how much they admire the mystery assailant.
Wally’s second date with Lou turns into Lou dumping her for the most irritating of reasons. Lou claims she’s learned to read people and she can tell they won’t be compatible long-term. But she changes her mind when she sees Wally beating the shit out of another abusive guy. It’s suddenly a turn-on. And afterward, they get it on.
One of the film’s conceits is to have the same actor – James MacLean – play all of the abusive men, with his face mostly obscured by a hoodie every time. Names of the abusers get beeped out as if for legal reasons; the bad guys becoming a monolithic #YesAllMen. But Compulsus also offers the hypothesis that even if all men are bad, as Wally comes to believe, meeting them with violence is nonetheless both dangerous and addictive. MacLean looks to be larger than Smith, and strong enough to take her – yet with the violence often more implied than shown, the viewer can accept that in this reality, the right sort of sucker punch might deliver a decisive advantage.
This isn’t simply the lesbian version of a male vigilante fantasy like Death Wish. As Promising Young Woman previously demonstrated, there’s less escapism and more of a sense of blowback when women are centered in these narratives. ’70s revenge movies used to show that vengeance took a toll on even the “good” guys too, but corporate movie product would eventually decide there’s less money in making adolescent male viewers feel bad. And corporate product, this is certainly not.
Compulsus may waver in declaring violent vengeance an unadulterated good, per se, but it feels unambiguous in declaring that it’s deserved and should be feared. Even if women are in two minds about it, they’ve had it, and will act upon it. Before the movie’s through, we’re reminded that this is slam poetry, with all the conflicted feelings inherent to the form. But the conflict inside is far less than the kind you’re about to get served if you do harm.
Compuslus recently played at Oxford Film Festival and will be at Fantasia Film Festival in July 2022.
Tara Thorne ‘s #metoo Revenge Thriller COMPULSUS is Poetry of Women’s Rage