SWALLOW (2020)
What seemingly appears like a tale about a bored wealthy housewife and her mundane life, SWALLOW (IFC Films) takes a complex and powerful turn when young newlywed Hunter begins experimenting with swallowing foreign objects and as she fixates more and more on reaching larger and more dangerous objects the deeper we delve into the psyche of a woman trapped, feeling powerless and not addressing her own trauma and pain.
Hunter played brilliantly by actress Haley Bennet is able to portray Hunter’s innocence and ambivalence flawlessly on screen and as the mundane housewife life begins to settle in Hunter soon becomes isolated and is then hit with the bombshell that she is pregnant. Her polite, obedient, exterior begins slowly to crack from the inside out all with a charming smile on her face in the presence of her husband and his family and their high level of interference, control, restraint, and patriarchal enforcement upon her.
Hunter’s inability to deal with her loss of identity and autonomy leads her to develops Pica (a psychological disorder characterized by an appetite for substances such as ice, paper, sharp objects, metal, soil, and glass), first it starts with a marble, then a pin. Pleased with herself she begins swallowing sharper, more dangerous objects that begin to wreak havoc in her calm domesticated life and ends with numerous visits to the emergency room where more and more dangerous objects are removed. She begins a ritual where where digs through her fieces to receive each object where she then places these objects on a tray on display, almost like an array of trophies. To the disgust of her husband and his family, they begin to exert more control over Hunter and hire a “babysitter” to watch her at all times. Hunter herself struggles to understand herself what is happening to her.
Swallow is a complex and multi-layered film that deals with loneliness, trauma, reclamation and identity. Director, Carlo Mirabella-Davis succeeds in bringing a deeply horrific body horror and tragic story of inner turmoil in a seemingly perfect life and surroundings to life in both an intimate and delicate way whilst still bringing to light the very real horror and fear of a woman in conflict with herself, her body, her current life, and her past.
Mirabella-Davis uses a soft colour palette throughout the film which enforces the idea of domesticity and the idyllic life yet with its coexistence with the stark contrast of the horror of Hunter’s inner turmoil. This is a film about regaining control over your own body and making realizations about herself and about the pristine lifestyle she inevitably leaves behind. Swallowing objects becomes Hunter’s outlet for regaining that control while being stifled in an almost pristine environment in which she appears as a mere object to complete a facade of perfection.
There is no doubt this film is about patriarchy. From Hunter’s role as dutiful subservient wife to her silence, her domesticity, her duty to the home, and her Stepford Wive’s appearance all commanded by her husband and re-enforced by his family. There’s a constant undertone that Hunter is a fragile, incapable little fawn who should play the role she has been dealt and be thankful for it. But in taking the role, Hunter loses all loss of identity, personal power, and control. Swallowing objects whilst pregnant in a state she doesn't seem happy about, just another expectation forced upon her. Hunter finds power and an outlet to regain some control and expression for her internal pain in a way no one can control.
Later we learn Hunter is a product of a rape and when she escapes her home and husband her first stop is to visit her mother’s rapist. A poignant moment in the film I felt was the interaction between her and her father. Her biological father says to her “It made me feel special. A secret makes you strong. You know? Everyone thought I was this regular guy you know but I was important inside. I was fucking powerful. I was god”…(Something which subtly flys under the radar but seems like a feeling and sentiment that Hunter herself feels from swallowing and relates too). “Then I realised I wasn’t god. I was shit”. Hunter’s final word’s to her biological father are “Are you ashamed of me?….Am I like you?” To which he reassures her “You’re are not me. You didn’t do anything. You didn’t anything wrong. It’s not your fault.” This confession gives Hunter some somber sense of clarity and release and tearfully she accepts his response.
This end of Hunter’s journey eventually culminates in Hunter aborting the pregnancy, her final last tie to her oppressive and controlling husband. Hunter passes the fetus in a mall bathroom and it feels like the ultimate object of expulsion from her body. This is her defiant declaration of independence and reclamation of choice and severance from the life she has just left behind. For a director’s debut film, this is a stunning, complex and highly thought out film which deserves far more attention than it received. A feminist body horror film — that’s something I never thought I’d say in one sentence. Swallow is a marvelous film and a great achievement in storytelling coupled with the brilliant performance of Haley Bennet as Hunter.
