Final Rating: 3/5
Compulsus takes the rage that many women have towards abusers, the patriarchy and institutions that protect aggressors and attacks it with blunt force trauma and righteous anger. Tara Thorne has written and directed a film that did what Jordan Peele’s Get Out did for the black community, which was to make a film that is a comedy to black audiences and a horror film to white ones. Compulsus is a romantic love story about how women can empower themselves and create the world they want to live in, or if you’re a man, it’s calling you out for every faux allyship lie that is uttered and putting you on notice that your abuses will not be tolerated and the piper will eventually collect its debt owed to the tune of a stapler to the face. To turn around some popular quotes, “if you have done nothing wrong, there’s no need to be worried” or “maybe the men were asking for it”.
Wally, played by Lesley Smith, is a part time poet who meets Lou at one of her open mic nights. The two of them hit it off and begin to see each other. Wally though is frustrated listening to her female friends tell stories about other women dating abusive and controlling men. Unfortunately because these “good guys” often claim to be allies and have circles that protect them, nothing comes to them. The justice system, as all women know, isn’t friendly for someone who wants to report assaults. Between drawn out and far too exploitive inquiries and often turning to he-said/she-said arguments mean that it is often easier to bury the pain and keep quiet, with the only real recourse is trying to warn other potential victims to stay away from the creep. Wally sees this one man in particular that abused a friend of a friend, and she decides to follow him to a dark parking lot before attacking him from behind. She knocks him out and runs away. Emboldened by the euphoria she feels of a man finally getting his just desserts, she begins to track down other ne’er-do-wells who also need a wake up call.
At first Wally is just going after men who she personally knows that hurt someone in her life or go too far with their sexist and homophobic catcalling, but she eventually sets up an anonymous email account for other women to come forward with their stories and information on their agressors. Lou, played by Kathleen Dorion, at first believes that Wally isn’t an ideal partner so she breaks it off before things get serious, but after catching Wally in the act one night, she becomes invigorated and uses her career as a courtroom stenographer to provide information on how Wally can better get away with her vigilantism. Wally’s friends begin praising this unknown hero as she finds herself getting deeper and deeper into exacting revenge on those who deserve it.
The film takes a fascinating idea, one that is the system is rigged against upstanding people, then those same people will take matters into their own hands, but adds a queer and feminist spin to the story. Much like how recently Promising Young Woman tackled a similar theme, Compulsus once again is telling men to stop assaulting women, or start fearing for their own safety. Early in the film there is a sequence of Wally leaving a bar late at night. She has her headphones on but starts to notice a man walking behind her. Is he following her? What does he want? Money? Sex? Whatever it is, it won’t be because Wally is interested. She takes her phone out and begins to dial a number, her heart is pounding as he gets closer to her. Just when he catches up to her, he turns into a bar, having never even noticed Wally. Unfortunately this is a routine horror story for most women. They fear walking alone at night, every man is a potential person to cause them trauma and pain. This event isn’t unique.
Thorne blends a revenge thriller with a queer love story to make something totally her own. As Wally and Lou continue to elevate their relationship, they become reassured that what they are doing to their victims is noble. What Wally is doing is just taking what many other survivors of assault wish they could do since every other system meant to protect them has failed. The film does a great job balancing a burgeoning romance, one that includes a montage where Lou teaches Wally how to shoot a gun and inserts a romantic acoustic ballad overtop, making you go “Awww, she’s learning how to kill predators if need be”, with a dark thriller.
The film is populated entirely by women, from the leads to supporting roles, to the background bartenders and customers at clubs. That is except for James MacLean, who plays every man seen on screen. Much like how Alex Garland’s recent film Men uses Rory Kinner as every man, MacLean does it here too. We never see his face or get a name as that would be dignifying his actions. But he is the faux ally, the cat caller, the rapist and even Wally’s brother-in-law that is suspected of not being on the up and up. We get shots of MacLean from behind, with a hood up, blurred in the background and when any of his character names are mentioned they are quite literally bleeped out like a swear word, an inappropriate name not worth hearing.
With its genre bending nature, inventive use of not giving weight to men’s identities and cheering for the guys to get what they deserve, this film is a delight. So my fellow men, the next time you want to take home a woman who is clearly too drunk to consent or you claim that you’ve been known to make queer women straight after having sex with you, maybe you should expect to be pistol whipped by a woman who is fed up. You were asking for it after all.
Compulsus was seen during the 2022 Fantasia Festival. Thank you to Route 504 for the screener.
