Thoughts on "Rape!" (1976) and the honesty of sexual violence in Nikkatsu Roman Porno
In Western films, rape victims are often either vengeful or vegetative.
Savage Streets paralyzes Linnea Quigley’s character to make way for Linda Blair’s righteous kills. I Spit On Your Grave elevates its central survivor’s agony to mythical proportions, an approach taken by later films such as Revenge. Don’t Breathe and Barbarian use sexual violence as both plot device and gross-out shock effect that incapacitates or transforms victims; Saint Maud and Promising Young Woman both lay out two very different but ultimately self-destructive ends of the act itself. Varda also indulges in this misery with Vagabond, as it’s part of a larger tragedy that culminates in her heroine’s demise, even if the director manages to instill a larger sense of resilience and grit in her.
