Campy ‘The Misandrists’ doesn’t restrain itself
The subtlety in “The Misandrists,” from its title to its sexually explicit content, is as subtle as a brick smacking the side of your head.
And as blunt as that sentence was, that’s how blunt this movie is too.
It has a great premise. What appears to be an all-female private school is actually the Female Liberation Army (FLA for short), a separatist organization that’s willing to do anything to challenge men.
Clever, yes. But its slow execution and cardboard acting doesn’t play nice.
The movie opens with Hilde (Olivia
Kundisch) and Isolde (Kita Updike) kissing and frolicking in the fields of 1999 Ger-woman-y. Yes, words like “herstory” (in place of history), “womanaged” and, after a prayer, “awomen” are
spoken to avoid saying anything that suggests masculinity.
In the middle of their kiss, Volker (Til Schindler), an injured man, stumbles into their lives. Hilde hesitates to touch him, but Isolde insists they secretly nurse him back to health at the school.
Bad idea. This causes rifts between Isolde and her peers and teachers. But it isn’t the only secret within the school’s halls.
Viewers quickly discover that each character has a devastating past from a man’s crimes and a secret, challenging their trust and integrity of the movement.
Among the personal struggles, all lessons lead to one mission that exploits lesbian pornography as propaganda for the matriarchal revolution.
Director Bruce La Bruce doesn’t hold back on the sexually graphic details. They happen so often and so suddenly that one can become jaded after a while.
But if that didn’t jade viewers, then thedialogue will. With lines like “smell the estrogen,” it’s a bit too campy to take seriously.
Susanne Sachsse easily steals the show as Big Mother, the matriarch of the FLA. But she cannot salvage this film, which is a shame because the industry could always use more LGBTQ representation and girl power.
People who appreciate artsy indies may like this movie, but it’s not for the mainstream moviegoer.
There’s a prayer repeated throughout the film: “blessed be the goddess of all worlds that has not made me a man.”
Well, blessed be the goddess of all worlds that has let me survive this film.