I found this film to be more of an experience than a film with a coherent plot or story arc, that said there is a story arc buried beneath metaphors and cronenbergian body horror.
The film is about a woman who after nearly dying in a car crash as a child and now has a metal plate in her skull, which goes hand in hand with having a fetish for cars and a compulsion to kill everyone around her.
In many films the character arc is one of someone becoming more and more evil as the events of the film progress, however in this, like in a clockwork orange it is about an already evil character seeking redemption, only however to suit their own needs.
The protagonist after becoming impregnated by a car and a search warrant is out due to her massacring an entire house of people poses as the dead son of Vincent a fire sergeant, hence forth the entire tone of the film changes as the protagonist has very little dialogue from then on and completely changes her appearence.
Gradually theirs a realisation that she is not who she's pretending to be, however their relationship has developed to the stage that they have a semi symbiotic reliance on each other, Adrienne filling the gap of his lost son and Vincent filling the gap of her emotionally absent father, There are conflicts of gender roles that begin to arise, as Andrien is trying to cover up being pregnant and Vincent is trying to hide a steroid addiction becuase of his failing physique, both of them are unable to attain the standards of archetypal masculinity they think they need to prove themselves to each other and possibly the rest of the workers at the fire station.
There is a poignant scene when the two dance together, this is the first time they've both been able to loosen up and leads to them fighting but then later bonding more than they had before.
Vincent is still however unable to come to terms with Adriennes femininity as she tries to start pushing the boundaries of who Adrienne is, dancing at one of the fireman's parties like she did when she was a stripper.
She realises this damages Vincent as he still wants her to be his son but it comes to the point where she is about to give birth for him to fully accept the reality of the situation delivering her half car baby.
I think some of the main themes of the film revolve around gender roles, emotional denial, Alexa at the beginning of the film is already subverting the concept of the female being the victim as she pries not only on the men who come to see her shows but also anyone she crosses paths with almost as if killing has become a compulsion for her.
Her love of cars is a symptom of her being unable to make a real emotional connection with anyone, as a psychopath she can only connect with lifeless machines.
It takes her having to pretend to be someone else to make a connection with someone, a father figure who can replace the emotional absence of her real father.
However she is fighting between being human living as someone else and her pregnancy with something unhuman which is constantly threatening her identity.
Overall I thought the film was excellent, it dealt with its subject matter in a way which did not give to much of the literal intentions of the narrative away, but still have enough to keep the viewer interested.
However part of the reasons why I rate this film so highly is becuase there's very little like this around at the moment so it gets most of its merits from originality and not from plotting or filmmaking which is more mediocre than it should be.
The film is about a woman who after nearly dying in a car crash as a child and now has a metal plate in her skull, which goes hand in hand with having a fetish for cars and a compulsion to kill everyone around her.
In many films the character arc is one of someone becoming more and more evil as the events of the film progress, however in this, like in a clockwork orange it is about an already evil character seeking redemption, only however to suit their own needs.
The protagonist after becoming impregnated by a car and a search warrant is out due to her massacring an entire house of people poses as the dead son of Vincent a fire sergeant, hence forth the entire tone of the film changes as the protagonist has very little dialogue from then on and completely changes her appearence.
Gradually theirs a realisation that she is not who she's pretending to be, however their relationship has developed to the stage that they have a semi symbiotic reliance on each other, Adrienne filling the gap of his lost son and Vincent filling the gap of her emotionally absent father, There are conflicts of gender roles that begin to arise, as Andrien is trying to cover up being pregnant and Vincent is trying to hide a steroid addiction becuase of his failing physique, both of them are unable to attain the standards of archetypal masculinity they think they need to prove themselves to each other and possibly the rest of the workers at the fire station.
There is a poignant scene when the two dance together, this is the first time they've both been able to loosen up and leads to them fighting but then later bonding more than they had before.
Vincent is still however unable to come to terms with Adriennes femininity as she tries to start pushing the boundaries of who Adrienne is, dancing at one of the fireman's parties like she did when she was a stripper.
She realises this damages Vincent as he still wants her to be his son but it comes to the point where she is about to give birth for him to fully accept the reality of the situation delivering her half car baby.
I think some of the main themes of the film revolve around gender roles, emotional denial, Alexa at the beginning of the film is already subverting the concept of the female being the victim as she pries not only on the men who come to see her shows but also anyone she crosses paths with almost as if killing has become a compulsion for her.
Her love of cars is a symptom of her being unable to make a real emotional connection with anyone, as a psychopath she can only connect with lifeless machines.
It takes her having to pretend to be someone else to make a connection with someone, a father figure who can replace the emotional absence of her real father.
However she is fighting between being human living as someone else and her pregnancy with something unhuman which is constantly threatening her identity.
Overall I thought the film was excellent, it dealt with its subject matter in a way which did not give to much of the literal intentions of the narrative away, but still have enough to keep the viewer interested.
However part of the reasons why I rate this film so highly is becuase there's very little like this around at the moment so it gets most of its merits from originality and not from plotting or filmmaking which is more mediocre than it should be.