Nashville Film Fest Review: Swallow

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First, it’s a marble. Next is a push-pin tack. And it only gets worse from there in Swallow, a weird but empathetic film of a woman who is attempting to fake it ’til she makes it. Hunter (Haley Bennett) gulps down dangerous items because it’s the only control she has in her life. Day in and day out, as her new hubby Richie (Austin Stowell) works at the family business, she’s stuck all alone in their fancy new house cooking, cleaning, and maintaining the place looking perfect. In keeping up appearances, Hunter is expected to be whoever her husband wants her to be. Who Richie’s wealthy parents (David Rasche and Elizabeth Marvel) want her to be. It’s a man’s world in which she’s neither seen nor heard by those who supposedly love her. Just do what you’re told. So it’s understandable if the most exciting part of her day is digesting a battery.

Hunter is diagnosed with a rare eating disorder called Pica – an abnormal desire to eat things you shouldn’t. She starts seeing a family-funded therapist (Zabryna Guevara), and during these therapy sessions – we get a glimpse of the mental trauma lurking underneath the soft-spoken, tractable housewife. Her leash gets that much shorter when she gets pregnant. Except that doesn’t stop Hunter from putting hazardous objects in her mouth. It’s her crack at rebelling against the overbearing and oppressive environment she’s enduring. This requires 24/7 watch from Luay (Laith Nakli), a live-in nurse hired to make her a prisoner in her own home. Regardless, her transformation now turned on, can’t be shut off.

Nothing goes down smooth in Swallow. The sight of the mental and physical struggle of Hunter speaks volumes when focusing on women and the impossible standards set by society. Bennett’s bang-up performance is without pity as her character’s compulsions and the reasons for them become too heavy to carry. Her unseen strength reveals itself as she comes to terms with who she truly is. Contending with her past and present shall set her free.

Being onlookers to her dispirited treatment, writer/director Carlo Maribella-Davis lets us shape an understanding for the inconceivable actions of his leading lady. And to writhe and laugh is part of that substantial process. This anomalous feminist thriller might be told by a male filmmaker, but the perspective is a poignant one. His comprehension of what women are forced to put up with is gorgeously expressed through his lens. On the other side is Bennett in a risk-taking role of a complex woman who can be restrained no more.

Brandon Vick is a member of The Music City Film Critics’ Association, the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and the star of The Vick’s Flicks Podcast. Follow him on Twitter @SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.

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