The movie begins with a conference meeting of two men talking, and the one is trying to convince the other that he has a really good investigator, but she is just different. The other man asks him in which way, and he says every way. When Lizabeth enters, the man who has not met her continues to question her as if he doesn’t trust her because of her appearance. She is continuously questioned about how much she makes and how much her rent is because they don’t believe she is qualified. One of the men then state to her, “you think that thing through your eyebrow makes you attractive?” Referring to her eyebrow ring. What the men do not understand is that she is not going out of her way to please them, she’s being herself and it doesn’t seem like it will change although she’s in a professional setting. He then looks at her records and believes she’s not changed, but how can he tell her that when he’s not in her position? He is setting standards for her that are unreasonable and she doesn’t even have these standards for herself.
He then assumes that if she does not do everything perfect then he will believe that she is doing drugs. He continuously asks about her sexuality, in which she does not respond because it is not his business. Janet McCabe, the author of Feminist Film Studies states “Key to Butler’s contribution is what she terms “gender performativity”. For her, the body does not simply embody social norms but is produced by discourses that give it meaning. The concept of performance is central to her thinking, for gender identity is a kind of performance: it is the imitation and impersonation of sexuality. Gender is learnt through repeated performances and involves manipulating codes such as clothes, gestures, and behaviour” (McCabe 109). What stands out to me here is that Lizabeth was her true self and did not try to be someone else. Her doctor seemed so stuck on what she identified as and who she was attracted to, but he was judging her simply on her appearance and was stereotyping her.
Next, he threatens her that she will be in an institution. The men in this movie all have way too big of egos and try to control women as if they are nothing. Her doctor is asking her questions that won’t help him or her, he just wants to her to feel uncomfortable. He then gets close to her and tries to be nice to her so he can take advantage of her. He then makes her unzip his pants and makes her perform sexual acts on him in order for her to get a computer that she needs. He took advantage of her because he had something she needed and the only way she could get it was by sexually pleasing him. She then goes back to his home and tells him she needs money for food, and he expects her to do the same thing once again. He then puts a handcuff on her without her consent and sexually assaults her. In the shower, her body is shown with dark bruises and marks from the abuse from her doctor.
She then goes back the next time and says she needs money for food again, and he starts off saying that he feels bad about how things went, and then she tases him. She ties him to a bed and then tattoos him, and gives him a taste of his own medicine. He took advantage of her so she’s getting revenge. Page 49 of Feminist Film Studies states, “Stacey begins by surveying psychoanalytic theories on the female image, cinematic spectatorship and visual pleasure to identify the issues that she wishes to address. Given that our ‘culture [is] saturated with images of desirable femininity’, and that women look at feminine ideals on the cinema screen” (McCabe). This movie shows society that you do not need to portray yourself in a way that society wants you to in order to do a good job in life. Lizabeth was a killer investigator and she didn’t have large breasts or a large butt. She was a normal human with flaws and imperfections and was intelligent and determined.
One morning she wakes up after a night out and her co-worker is at the door. He busts into her house and tells her to put some clothes on and to get rid of the girl in her bed. No man seems to have respect for this woman. Lisabeth was doing her job, investigating, and was trying to talk to an officer about part of an investigation, and all he could focus on was her appearance and had the audacity to ask when the last time she ate was. She comes in contact with her doctor again and threatens for her reports to look better and he seems scared, whereas in the first place she was the one who was scared. She eventually starts to grow confidence and believe in herself.
Brzozowski's feminist film blog 