There’s a caption that appears on screen at the very beginning of Bruce LaBruce’s The Misandrists: “1999… somewhere in Ger(wo)many.” It made me wonder if we were going to get one of those “Oh no, women have taken over the world” stories like Netflix’s recent – and actually very good – I Am Not An Easy Man, or the 2016 mockumentary No Men Beyond This Point.
But, no, the focus of this film is smaller – at least until the final few minutes – and concerns itself more with critiquing and satirising aspects of radical feminism and revolutionary politics than with telling a large, high-concept tale of a future womantopia.
It’s also provocative and transgressive, containing as it does snippets of hardcore male gay pornography and eye-watering footage of gender-realignment surgery. Canadian writer/director LaBruce – one of the founding fathers of the ’80s queercore movement possibly best known for 2010’s L.A. Zombie and Gerontophilia (2013) – alleviates some of his more alarming storytelling choices with sharp black comedy and entertaining camp. His film is also very timely.
Separatist Radical Feminists
Plot-wise, The Misandrists – a sort-of sequel to LaBruce’s 2005 film, The Raspberry Reich – owes a debt to The Beguiled (2017), even appropriating the elegant pink Kunstler Script font for its logo and end titles from Sofia Coppola’s adaptation of the Thomas P. Cullinan novel.
The action takes place in a German girls’ school that is actually a front for the Female Liberation Army (FLA), a cadre of separatist radical feminists, led by the enigmatic ‘Big Mother’ (regular LaBruce collaborator Susanne Sachsse), who are planning to raise enough cash from their fledgling pornography business to fund a revolution that will overthrow patriarchy.
A spanner is thrown in the works when two of the school’s pupils – Isolde (Kita Updike) and Hilde (Olivia Kundisch) – come across a wounded socialist, Volker (Til Schindler), on the run from the police. Despite Big Mother’s females-only policy, the pair take pity on Volker and hide him in the school’s basement, a decision which leads to all manner of revelation and consequence.
Troubled Personal Histories
On the surface, The Misandrists is a hotchpotch of many disparate elements, some of which work and some of which really don’t, but nevertheless cohere into something almost, well, beguiling.
The script is very odd, containing as it does several genuinely terrific lines (“The quickest way to a man’s heart is through his chest”), as well as plenty of the clunky but amusing ‘Germany/Ger(wo)many’-style wordplay I mentioned at the beginning. There are also clumsy info dumps as characters are introduced and their troubled personal histories outlined, and quotes from the likes of Schopenhauer and Ulrike Meinhof zip back and forth like gunfire. There’s a running gag about a strange old nun, who seems to live apart from everyone else at the school, and even a scene in which parthenogenesis – reproduction from an ovum without fertilisation, fact fans – is defined in detail.
Liberty and Dignity
LaBruce’s characters aren’t really characters at all but representatives of ideas and viewpoints. Volker, for instance, embodies revolutionary socialism and gets to criticise the FLA’s aims with lines such as: “Isn’t it a distraction from the real revolution?”, while Big Mother spends a lot of her screen time reciting her organisation’s diktats (“The substance and solidarity of the FLA grows out of the fertile ground of lesbian love”).
There are also times when you aren’t quite sure if the characters are extolling their own viewpoints or LaBruce’s, especially in one sequence when Sister Dagmar (Viva Ruiz) tells us: “We believe that, like prostitution, pornography is an honourable expression of sexuality, as long as it respects the liberty and dignity of the individuals engaged in it.”
The acting is mostly wooden, although Sachsse, in platinum blonde wig and fancy sunglasses, chews the scenery to pleasing effect as Big Mother, and a couple of LaBruce’s commendably multi-ethnic cast have genuine onscreen charisma, especially Updike (as “separatist among separatists” Isolde) and Lo-Fi Cherry (as Editha), a Swedish porn actress and director whose striking, expressive face LaBruce’s camera clearly adores.
Shock Tactics and Provocation
One of the film’s intellectual pillars explores feminism’s uneasy relationship with the transgendered and, in amongst the shock tactics and provocation, does so in a manner that could be almost called sensitive. A director as joyously contrary as LaBruce probably recoils at the very notion of ‘character arcs’, but although these women are lightly sketched, several undergo satisfying journeys in which they learn things about themselves and their comrades in arms. Criticisms of radical feminist perspectives are always best when articulated by other women, but LaBruce’s plea for female solidarity – whatever gender you are born into – is nevertheless sympathetic and very timely.
One of the things I found surprising about The Misandrists was that, when you strip out the transgressive bits, just how accessible it is. There is real craft here – it’s nicely shot (especially the outdoor scenes and a sumptuous pillow-fight sequence), winningly eccentric and genuinely funny, and bravely tackles some big, knotty questions clearly and eloquently.
Ironically, though, the content most likely to prevent people wanting to see The Misandrists is that most likely to set tongues wagging about the film in the first place – its graphic sexual and surgical content. Personally, I think this would be a much stronger film without those scenes, whilst accepting LaBruce’s position as a serial provocateur perhaps dictates their inclusion. The veteran filmmaker has been doing this long enough, and clearly has the skills, to create something far more ‘mainstream’. I don’t know if the fact he chooses not to is something to be cheered or lamented.
The Misandrists: Final Thoughts
La Bruce’s film – partially funded via Kickstarter back in 2016 – is a frustrating piece of work, but one of those rare movies that ultimately amounts to more than the sum of its parts. As a straight, cisgendered male of a certain age, there were times it made me feel like a grandad at a rap battle: discomfited and a bit lost. But I nevertheless found his ideas and ways of expressing them fascinating and challenging. As I’ve argued elsewhere recently, the film landscape feels very polite right now and maybe a blast of straight-no-chaser LaBruce is just the antidote we need.
What is the most extreme movie you’ve ever seen? Did you enjoy it?
The Misandrists is in US cinemas now (limited). Check here for further release information
Does content like this matter to you?
Become a Member and support film journalism. Unlock access to all of Film Inquiry`s great articles. Join a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about cinema - get access to our private members Network, give back to independent filmmakers, and more.