Years ago, I wrote a marketing column for Marketing News on companies targeting angry white males. There was a Bud Light commercial where there is a Ladies Night special on the basic brew.
That commercial could likely run today, especially with the rise in toxic masculinity. The "your body, my choice" approach is beyond misogynistic.
I couldn't help think about toxic masculinity while watching 2 French Canadian films during the WIFF Prize in Canadian Film contest in the 2024 Windsor International Film Festival. Both films felt similar is that there were about singular women deep in the woods. Turns out both films deal with toxic masculinity.
Let's start with Hunting Daze | Jour de chasse. Nina (Nahéma Ricci) is a sex worker who is headed to a different kind of plot. There is a showdown just off the road in a remote setting. Nina ends up in this guy's truck. He tells her that he could take her to this gathering of men who want to hunt in the woods. She has plenty of opportunity to bail but she goes along.
The men challenge her. They would probably call it teasing but they are clearly going really far in a short period of time. Nina is determined to hold her own. Theoretically, being a female sex worker means you run into a lot of masculinity. I might be freaked out but perhaps she isn't.
Annick Blanc give us an intriguing dynamic. A woman surrounded by toxic masculinity. Except. Blanc doesn't go in that direction. Instead of seeing what is outside the toxic masculinity pool, we get to swim in the pool throughout most of the film.
To our surprise, Nina's presence is almost ignored. The guys go on almost as if she isn't there. Nina is not in danger the way we think she might.
I don't want to give away too much. We have noted that the game changer isn't as impressive as we had hoped. What made me uncomfortable through most of the film was the idea that there was little to no break from the toxic masculinity. Blanc speaks to the idea of this before the film is over but not fast enough for some viewers.
Lucy Grizzli Sophie seems like an innocent adventure in the woods. Sophie (Catherine-Anne Toupin) is running away from something. Comes upon a remote bed and breakfast setup. Martin (Guillaume Cyr) is very polite, pointing out his Aunt Louise (Lise Roy) decides who can stay. Sophie doesn't seem concerned about this hurdle.
We discover why Sophie has gone into hiding, how she is being chased metaphorically online and by phone (involving changes to video games). Martin is a beaten down man who is subservient to Louise. Sophie encounters toxic masculinity but that isn't physically in her face. We don't want to give away anything too significant.
Martin is an example of where appearances are deceiving. He is a different example of a similar problem. Code switching. How women talk with each other versus how they talk to men. The toxic masculinity in Hunting Daze | Jour de chasse is the men away from the women they love. Nina being a sex worker or even attractive doesn't change their behavior. Martin changes his behavior depending on the audience.
There is the female cashier in the village in the Lucy Grizzli Sophie saga. Her current boyfriend breaks up with her because of a video online where she is topless. She doesn't know how the video got online.
Sophie has great empathy for her fellow female in being shamed online: Sophie with words and threats and the cashier with nudity.
Lucy Grizzli Sophie is not bathing in toxic masculinity like we see in Hunting Daze yet we definitely are a part of what is happening.
👨👦 Newfoundland filmmaker explores raising son in era of toxic masculinity in latest #documentary. More via @CBCNews → https://t.co/pPjIhKAEL0
— National Film Board of Canada (@thenfb) November 12, 2024
🎦 See SONS on November 12 at the Fogo Island Inn, Nov 20 at the Clarenville Twin Cinemas and Nov 21 at the Garrick Threatre in… pic.twitter.com/Mvp84B72gJ
Both films were written and directed by women. Annick Blanc wrote and directed Hunting Daze | Jour de chasse. Catherine-Anne Toupin wrote the original play La Meute and adapted the screenplay directed by Anne Émond. This definitely helps in the presentation in ways that a male writer and director would perhaps be too biased.
2024 WIFF Canadian films in review: French
2024 WIFF Canadian films in review: Documentaries
Sophie Dupuis has had a lot of masculinity, toxic and otherwise, in her 3 films: Chien de Garde, Underground | Souterrain, and Solo. A rare female writer/director who has very little empathy to women in her films.
We also should mention Russians at War. There is quite a bit of machismo: literally Russian soldiers in the act of war. That masculinity is presented without context.
Your humble narrator is not drawn to toxic masculinity, especially in heavy doses, on the screen. Yet, like a lot of subject matter, you have to get by what makes you uncomfortable. I was definitely uncomfortable through these 2 films, mostly through Hunting Daze | Jour de chasse.
Both are good films even if they are a bit too much to swallow. The only thing worse than toxic masculinity on the screen is toxic masculinity in real life.
2024 WIFF Canadian films in review
2024 Windsor International Film Festival preview
CanadianCrossing.com film reviews
CanadianCrossing.com film coverage
You could be forgiven if you don't want to think about toxic masculinity in film or real life. If you had invited me to watch these films and I knew what they were about, I might have run in the opposite direction. Yet I feel like I learned a lot from these films, even if I was uncomfortable at times.
Lise Roy, who played Aunt Louise in the play La Meute and film Lucy Grizzli Sophie. Roy led the Q&A after the screening I saw. I noticed a young woman come in just as the Q&A was about to start. Roy encouraged young women to speak about their reactions to the film. As much as I can be a show-off, I knew when not to raise my hand. The young woman near me asked her question. You can't get this kind of context in most screenings, especially streaming.
Lucy Grizzli Sophie is playing on Crave in Canada. Hopefully, both films will have U.S. distribution at some point. Try to see the film with someone who is more affected by toxic masculinity and then have a solid discussion. Sometimes, that can be the listening part.
Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person wins 2023 WIFF Prize in Canadian Film
Dealing with films about suicide that could be triggering
I wrote a similar story on films dealing with suicide after I encountered a family member choosing suicide in 2023. Not even film is going to have a Hallmark mentality. Some films are very real in the topics and plots. I can handle a fictional account of either subject a lot better than a documentary dealing with that topic. The one mentioned in the NFB tweet feels kinder and gentler on the topic.
video credit: Bud Light
photo credits: Hunting Daze | Jour de chasse; Lucy Grizzli Sophie
Twitter capture: @thenfb
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