A cultural shakeup up is underway. The rules of dating are being rewritten, and it’s long overdue. From the Women’s March to the rallying cry of #MeToo, women from all walks of life are boldly confronting a history of patriarchal oppression and abuse. Although a few famous cases have dominated the headlines, more work is being done in the private sphere where questioning what we’ve been taught — about sex, power, courtship, and consent — is now a common topic of conversation.
From a crowded train to a job interview, we’ve featured films that contribute to the conversation by revealing the subtle but devastating ways in which power dynamics play out in our daily lives. One of the most talked-about films in our office is this week’s Staff Pick Premiere: Dane McCusker’s “Angelfish,” which brilliantly explores how entitlement contributes to a brief but frightening interaction in which expectations trump consent.
After a night of drinking and friendly competition, Patrick invites Claire back to his place, to see his angelfish. Sounds simple enough, but over the next few minutes their genuine bond is shattered as friendly banter gives way to Patrick’s unchecked entitlement. As fear enters the room, Claire finds herself alone with a stranger who won’t take no for an answer. If the story sounds familiar, McCusker acknowledges “I don’t think there is a single woman in my life that hasn’t had an experience like the one in this film.”
The script is an amalgamation of many different stories (when the film was written, the Brock Turner sexual assault trial at Stanford University dominated the news cycle) and somehow manages to feel both ripped from the headlines and deeply personal. “The ‘issues’ that I wanted to explore aren’t sterile ideas that exist outside of people’s psychology,” says McCusker. Patrick seems oblivious to consent and the many different ways in which Claire says no, but understanding Patrick’s ignorance requires a deeper look into underlying culture that fosters these coercive attitudes. McCusker argues that to bypass this social conditioning, men must “cultivate enough sensitivity to be able to read reactions and understand when you are crossing boundaries. Your entire life’s worth of romance stories have lied to you. Persistence is not the best method to ‘win the girl’, that’s called coercion.”
McCusker’s sharp skills as storyteller help carry his ideas from script to screen. From introducing connection and desire to fear and suspicion, the subtle shifts in tone are delicately handled even as the drama escalates. Tight close-ups impose the physical space onto the scene, as two outstanding performances by Georgia Wilkinson-Derums and Adam Sollis bring Claire and Patrick to life. In no small feat, Wilkinson-Derums simultaneously embodies strength and vulnerability as Claire stands up for herself while also fearing for her safety, while Sollis avoids caricatures as he portrays an arrogance born out of entitlement.
We don’t know if Patrick learned anything from this exchange, but McCusker’s final moments with him reveal a complicated character forced to reckon with his behavior. “I felt it was important to stay with him in that excruciating, embarrassing, somewhat pathetically lonely moment so the audience could understand the consequences,” says McCusker. “It’s sad and it’s horrible but it’s true the way I see it, and it leaves that burden on the audience to unpack and question and discuss.” So with that, we look forward to reading your thoughts in the comments below.
To read about McCusker’s next project and support his work, please visit his Indiegogo page!
Check out more of Vimeo’s Staff Pick Premieres here.
