Co-directed and co-written by Dusty Mancinelli and Madeleine Sims-Fewer, the latter also taking on the lead role, Violation is, as you may have guessed from the title, not an easy watch. It's a powerful one though, and a hell of a feature debut, after both Mancinelli and Sims-Fewer spent the past decade and a half honing their skills on a variety of shorts.
Sims-Fewer plays Miriam, a woman who doesn't seem to be in a good place with her husband, Caleb (Obi Abili). A trip to visit her sister, Greta (Anna Maguire), and her partner, Dylan (Jesse LaVercombe), takes Miriam through a life-changing experience, one that sees her seeking understanding, support, and ultimately revenge.
With events depicted in a non-chronological way, Violation is a carefully planned placement of brush strokes that build up to develop a devastating picture. The title refers to a number of different aspects, but viewers get to see how each separate violation is arguably almost as important as the sexual abuse that the plot hinges on . . . in terms of driving the main character to a point where she feels she has no other option than the murderous plan that she comes up with. Trust is violated, boundaries are violated, and familial bonds once thought unbreakable are violated when Miriam's "confession" is received with doubt and a defensive attack.
Sims-Fewer gives an excellent central performance, changing notably between the pre-attack and post-attack incarnations of her character. Earlier moments show her more carefree, even while not being perfectly happy with everything in her life, while later moments show her being fuelled by rage, able to confront people in a way that would have seemed previously impossible. LaVercombe is also very good, especially in scenes that have him discussing a terrible situation in a way that he seems to have no real awareness of what he's actually done. Maguire and Abili are strong in their supporting roles, although the former has a bit more screentime than the latter, the sisterly bond being more explored than any marital connections.
Those who have seen any film within this sub-genre before, and it can still be labelled as a rape/revenge film, will know what to expect. Mancinelli and Sims-Fewer deliver those moment, but they work to make the film more interesting by what they don't show. There's no sense of the content here being exploitative or gratuitous, not even when there is some graphic nudity and gore shown in certain sequences. The main ordeal that Sims-Fewer goes through is illustrated more by audio than visuals, the camera simply focusing on two heads close enough to one another to have a fractured, whispered, conversation.
You should go into this with a warning of the content, but (again) I think the title is warning enough in itself, and those expecting a sleazy wallow in justified violence should look elsewhere. This is a film that shows a wound being formed, and it's one that may never heal, because other people didn't offer the right aid or assistance when it was most needed. It's sad to think of how many people watching will be able to identify with that feeling, but I suspect it will be the majority of viewers. You may not want to ever revisit this, you may struggle to get to the end of it in one sitting, but Violation is a film that deserves your time and strength.
8/10
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