POLL 49: WOMEN WITH DESIRE

POLL 49: WOMEN WITH DESIRE

My poll 49 is inspired by LES AUTRES FILLES, which is about a young girl who wants to have some sexual experiences, partly because of curiosity, partly because of peer pressure, partly because of her sexual desire. In the end, she is sexually fulfilled, very happy, and isn’t punished.

LES AUTRES FILLES is an ideal film for me, partly because I am very sick and tired of watching many recent Thai films of which the heroines look squeaky-clean or look like a virgin. One Thai film which I hates very much is THE LETTER (JOD MAI RAK) (2004, directed by Pa-oon Jantarasiri, written by Kongdej Jaturanrasamee), because the heroine’s female friend, who loves the nightlife, is killed, while the heroine who looks squeaky-clean finds true love. This film seems to imply that women who love the nightlife will be punished, while the other kind of women will be rewarded.

Having said that, I don’t mean to say that Thai films which have squeaky-clean heroines are bad films. My intention is just to encourage some filmmakers to make films like LES AUTRES FILLES to satisfy me and any audience like me. I think everybody has the right to make films which have squeaky-clean heroines to satisfy a target group, and I believe everybody also has the right to make films which have long-….. heroes to satisfy another target group. When I say I hate something, that doesn’t mean I say it is a bad thing. I just mean I am not its target group.

However, there are also some recent Thai films which satisfy me in this aspect, such as THE HOUSE (2007, Monthon Arayangkoon). The heroine in THE HOUSE is a married woman with a handsome husband, and I like their love scene very much.

There are also some exceptions. GOOD MORNING, LUANG PRABANG may have a clean-looking heroine, but I still love this film a lot. I think it is partly because the filmmakers can make the heroine of this film look like “a real human being” in my point of view, not just a beautiful, virtuous object of desire for straight male viewers. And I think the heroine of this film obviously shows her yearning for the handsome hero. Thus, I can still identify my feelings with this heroine.


THESE FILMS PORTRAY INTERESTING FEMALE CHARACTERS WITH DESIRE. WHICH FILMS DO YOU LIKE?

1.LES AUTRES FILLES (2000, Caroline Vignal, France)

2.AN AUTUMN TALE (1998, Eric Rohmer, France)

3.BEWARE OF MY LOVE (1998, Jeanne Labrune, France)

4.BLIND (ธรรมดาสู่สามัญ) (2008, Kanjana Akasin, Thailand)

5.BLISSFULLY YOURS (2002, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thailand)

6.FOREVER YOURS (CHUA FAR DIN SALAI) (1955, Tawee na Bangchang, Thailand)
http://thaifilmjournal.blogspot.com/2008/05/review-forever-yours.html

7.FRIDAY NIGHT (2002, Claire Denis, France)

8.GETTING MY BROTHER LAID (2001, Sven Taddicken, Germany)

9.A GOOD LAWYER’S WIFE (2003, Im Sang-soo, South Korea)

10.A HELL OF A DAY (2001, Marion Vernoux, France)

11.IN THE REALM OF THE SENSES (1976, Nagisa Oshima, Japan)

12.JE TU IL ELLE (1974, Chantal Akerman, Belgium)
http://filmsick.exteen.com/20080715/je-tu-il-elle-chantal-akerman-1974

13.JUNO (2007, Jason Reitman, USA)
I like it very much that Michael Cera seems to have two functions in this film: being an erotic object of Juno and being an erotic object of some viewers. One of my most favorite moments in JUNO is when Juno said, “Nice legs” when she saw Cera’s legs after she had given birth to her child. In this special moment, the erotic gaze of Juno and the erotic gaze of the viewers are neatly combined. (Yes, I copied some words from Laura Mulvey. Hahaha.)

14.THE LAST MISTRESS (2007, Catherine Breillat, France)

15.LOST IN EMOTION (ความรู้สึกที่หายไป) (2007, Soraya Duangtape, Thailand)

16.A MOMENT IN JUNE (2008, O Nathapon, Thailand)

17.MOTHER (1963, Kaneto Shindo, Japan)

18.SEX AND THE CITY (1998-2004, USA, TV series)

19.UNPRONOUNCABLE IN THE LINGUISTIC IMPERIALISM OF YOURS (2008, Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke, Thailand)

20.WINGS OF BLUE ANGELS (2007, Tongpong Chantarangkul, Thailand)
I like it very much that the prostitute in this film seems to turn from an object of desire into a subject of desire near the end of this film.

--There is another subgroup of films in this category: films about older heroines and their younger lovers or younger objects of desire, such as LADIES IN LAVENDER (2004, Charles Dance, A+), in which Judi Dench yearns for Daniel Bruehl. But I think there are many great films dealing with this issue, so I think I should make another poll about this subgroup in the future.

--I have to confess that I feel very frustrated or annoyed with the decisions of the heroines of YEARNING (1964, Mikio Naruse, A+) and WHEN A WOMAN ASCENDS THE STAIRS (1960, Mikio Naruse, A+). These heroines seem to suppress their desire for handsome men who also love them in return. Why do these heroines suppress their desire? Are they plain stupid? Do they victimize themselves? Are they the victims of society? Or maybe these heroines have considered carefully what they will gain and will lose if they follow their desire. My feeling of frustration and annoyance in this case doesn’t mean I think they are bad films. I think they are great films. They are realistic films which show very interesting things about society and human beings. But somehow I wish they were not realistic films. I wish they were romantic films of which the heroines dare to follow their own sexual desire. My feelings of frustration and annoyance are just the result of the fact that the heroines don’t act out my own desire for the handsome actors in these films.

However, I don’t feel frustrated at all that the heroine of THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY (A+) doesn’t follow her own desire. It is partly because the situation of the heroine in THE BRIDGES is very different from in Naruse’s films. The heroine in THE BRIDGES is married with children. When the heroine of THE BRIDGES doesn’t follow her own desire, I feel so great and cry a lot. When the heroines of YEARNING and WHEN A WOMAN ASCENDS THE STAIRS don’t follow her own desire, I feel so bad. Maybe the real reason why I feel very different for these films is just because the male objects of desire in these Japanese films are much more desirable than Clint Eastwood. Hahaha


--The theme songs for this poll are:

1.I WANT THAT MAN – Deborah Harry
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw5VbDX7L9g

2.SEXUAL – Amber
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9ebS85Kfyw

3.I TOUCH MYSELF – Divinyls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FGk63Fv7t4