Violation (film)

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Violation
Official poster
Directed by
Written by
  • Madeleine Sims-Fewer
  • Dusty Mancinelli
Produced by
  • Madeleine Sims-Fewer
  • Dusty Mancinelli
Starring
CinematographyAdam Crosby
Edited byGabriella Wallace
Music byAndrea Boccadoro
Production
companies
Distributed byShudder
Release dates
  • September 14, 2020 (2020-09-14) (TIFF)
  • March 25, 2021 (2021-03-25) (Shudder)
Running time
107 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish

Violation is a 2020 Canadian horror drama film directed and written by Madeleine Sims-Fewer and Dusty Mancinelli. It is the feature film debut of the two directors, who have collaborated on several short films displayed at film festivals worldwide. The plot follows Miriam, who seeks revenge on her brother-in-law after a traumatic incident. The film stars Madeleine Sims-Fewer, Anna Maguire, Jesse LaVercombe, Obi Abili, Jasmin Geljo, and Cynthia Ashperger.[1]

The film premiered at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival. It had its US premiere at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival on February 1, 2021.

Plot[edit]

Narrative structure[edit]

Violation is presented as a nonlinear narrative, but the following summary describes the scenes in chronological order for ease of reading.

Summary[edit]

Miriam and her husband Caleb drive towards her sister Greta's cabin, where the couple act uneasy with each other while spending time with Greta and her husband Dylan. Later, Dylan and Miriam hike through the forest and set up camp for the night. The two talk about Miriam's dreams before she kisses Dylan. The next morning, Dylan sexually assaults Miriam while she is asleep. She wakes and implores him to stop, but he continues.

Afterward, Miriam walks back to the cabin on her own. She climbs into bed with Caleb and initiates sex with him, but he rebuffs her and leaves the room. Apart from the group, Miriam attempts to free a trapped rabbit before re-encountering Dylan, whom she accuses of sexual assault, but he denies responsibility and claims that Miriam wanted to have sex with him.

Later, while swimming in the lake, Miriam tells Greta that Dylan assaulted her, but Greta refuses to believe her, prompting her to swim to the shore in anger. Miriam subsequently argues with Greta about skinning a rabbit, causing Caleb to leave out of discomfort.

While Greta and Caleb are absent, Miriam lures Dylan to the cabin on the pretext of another sexual encounter. She convinces him to strip naked and be blindfolded, asking him what it felt like to assault her, before knocking him unconscious. She ties him to a chair, duct-tapes his blindfold, and wraps a plastic bag around his head. As he begins to suffocate, Miriam tears the bag, and Dylan headbutts her and breaks his restraints. After a struggle, Miriam chokes him to death, crying after killing him.

Miriam then removes evidence of the crime and bleeds, dismembers, and disposes of Dylan's corpse, making sure to collect the blood in various containers and grinding some of its bone into powder before burning the rest. She dons a wig and travels to a motel, where she encounters a man and a woman bickering. She insinuates herself into the conversation and acts aggressively towards the man, much to his surprise. She then takes a room at the motel and pours the corpse's blood down the bathtub drain and flushes blood-soaked rags in the toilet.

Miriam returns to the cabin and later offers to help Greta prepare for Dylan's family gathering by making ice cream, to which she secretly adds the bone dust. During the family gathering, Miriam and Greta discuss Miriam's dream, and Greta tells Miriam that she still loves her, unaware of Dylan's death. Greta looks at the gathered family members, many of whom are unwittingly consuming Dylan's bones in the ice cream.

Cast[edit]

The cast include:[2]

Production[edit]

Deepa Mehta, whom Mancinelli had worked for as an assistant, served as executive producer, along with David Hamilton, François Dagenais and David James.[3]

Release[edit]

The film had its world premiere at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival in the section Midnight Madness on September 14, 2020.[1] The film also premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival on February 1, 2021, in the Midnight section.[4][5][6] In December 2020, streaming service Shudder announced it had purchased streaming rights for the film.[7] It was released on Shudder on March 25, 2021.[8]

Reception[edit]

Critical response[edit]

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 88%, based on reviews from 99 critics, with an average rating of 7.1/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Violation presents a powerful depiction of one woman's trauma -- and its uncomfortably gripping aftermath."[9] Violation, which is described as "decidedly dark, potentially dangerous and probably deranged" and "flips the revenge genre on its head", was selected for the "Fantastic 7" genre festival initiative to highlight genre films at seven international film festivals.[10] Critic Mike Crisolago has named it one of 30 films he is already "excited to see."[11] Now Toronto critic Norman Wilner called it "a major levelling up of their signature combination of rage and intensity".[12] According to Variety reviewer Tomris Laffley, "Despite some heavy-handed choices, Madeleine Sims-Fewer and Dusty Mancinelli pack a profound gut-punch with their debut feature."[13]

Awards and nominations[edit]

The film received five Canadian Screen Award nominations at the 9th Canadian Screen Awards in 2021, for Best Actress (Sims-Fewer), Best Supporting Actor (LaVercombe), Best Sound Editing (Matthew Chan, Ida Marci), Best Sound Mixing (Matthew Chan) and the John Dunning Best First Feature Award.[14]

  • TIFF Rising Star - Madeleine Sims-Fewer
  • Emerging Canadian Artist Award - Calgary International Film Festival
  • Emerging Canadian Director Award - Vancouver International Film Festival
  • ACTRA Awards - Outstanding Performance - Jesse LaVercombe
  • Directors Guild of Canada Discovery Award (nominee)
  • Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards (nominee): Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor - Madeleine Sims-Fewer

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Hipes, Patrick (October 19, 2020). "'Violation' Filmmakers Madeleine Sims-Fewer & Dusty Mancinelli Ink With WME". Deadline. Retrieved January 4, 2021.
  2. ^ "Film and TV Projects Going Into Production - Violation". Variety Insight. Archived from the original on April 11, 2021. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
  3. ^ "Violation". Toronto International Film Festival. August 25, 2020.
  4. ^ Debruge, Peter (December 15, 2020). "Sundance Film Festival Lineup Features 38 First-Time Directors, Including Rebecca Hall and Robin Wright". Variety. Retrieved January 4, 2021.
  5. ^ "Violation". tiff.net. Toronto International Film Festival. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
  6. ^ Miska, Brad (July 30, 2020). "TIFF's Midnight Madness is Still Going to Get Crazy!". bloodydisgusting.com. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
  7. ^ Gingold, Michael (December 16, 2020). "Shudder acquires TIFF-acclaimed revenge shocker "VIOLATION"". rue-morgue.com. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
  8. ^ Dry, Jude (February 11, 2021). "'Violation' Trailer: No Man Is Let Off the Hook in This Fiery Revenge Thriller". Indiewire. Retrieved March 1, 2021.
  9. ^ "Violation (2021)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved October 10, 2021.
  10. ^ Dale, Martin (June 25, 2020). "Fantastic 7 Film Festivals Endorse Potential Upcoming Genre Standouts at Cannes Session". Variety.
  11. ^ Crisolago, Mike (July 30, 2020). "30 Films We're Already Excited to See".
  12. ^ Wilner, Norman (September 14, 2020). "TIFF review: Violation shows us the horrible cost of revenge". Now Toronto. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
  13. ^ Laffley, Tomris (September 13, 2020). "'Violation' Review: Disturbing Rape-Revenge Thriller Subverts Genre Trappings". Variety. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
  14. ^ Brent Furdyk, "Canadian Screen Awards Announces 2021 Film Nominations". ET Canada, March 30, 2021.

External links[edit]

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