I'll just say that I took my time reading negative reviews and a lot of them make very precise observations about the movie but, in my opinion, come to a wrong conclusion.
It is disgusting what the men do to her. It is disturbing. There is too much sex. But that's the whole point.
The way I see it, she's totally being taken advantage of, but she's ultimately the winner. The depravity is not something that is being shown to us bc the director let slip of his male gaze. The movie is absolutely aware of this absurd wickedness.
The two main points that taken into account together change the perspective were outwards spoken in the movie. "She is mentally ill" (everybody fully knows what's going on, including the director) and "men are beasts" (they are beasts and they do this s--t and that's why we're watching these not sexy sex scenes, so that we're also aware). And also the ideas like "we can't change anything" and it's always gonna be like it. And it's terrible.
However! Despite all this Bella is the one who gets the last laugh. She outgrows them, she gets what she wants, she drives all these disgusting men (don't even get me started on how they are shown exactly like what they are: pathetic and vile) insane and comes out a winner.
Is it implied that she emancipates through "sexual liberation"? I guess. I'll admit that it's def 90% of it. Is it possible in reality? Yes. Is it shown like that's the way it should be done? No! It's freaking dirty and sad, but does it actually humiliate a woman? Hell no, because she prevails!
In general it is icky that it was all done by men, but even wearing my feminist glasses I can't hate it. Highly enjoyable. All the good things people say are 100% true. The only issue I had was just weird inconsistency with her aging process, like even in a fantasy world like that there are some implied rules and logic and they were broken. The way she would hardly be able to talk but grasped complex concepts, or hardly was able to walk but could physically perform sexual actions, that just didn't add up to me personally.
It is disgusting what the men do to her. It is disturbing. There is too much sex. But that's the whole point.
The way I see it, she's totally being taken advantage of, but she's ultimately the winner. The depravity is not something that is being shown to us bc the director let slip of his male gaze. The movie is absolutely aware of this absurd wickedness.
The two main points that taken into account together change the perspective were outwards spoken in the movie. "She is mentally ill" (everybody fully knows what's going on, including the director) and "men are beasts" (they are beasts and they do this s--t and that's why we're watching these not sexy sex scenes, so that we're also aware). And also the ideas like "we can't change anything" and it's always gonna be like it. And it's terrible.
However! Despite all this Bella is the one who gets the last laugh. She outgrows them, she gets what she wants, she drives all these disgusting men (don't even get me started on how they are shown exactly like what they are: pathetic and vile) insane and comes out a winner.
Is it implied that she emancipates through "sexual liberation"? I guess. I'll admit that it's def 90% of it. Is it possible in reality? Yes. Is it shown like that's the way it should be done? No! It's freaking dirty and sad, but does it actually humiliate a woman? Hell no, because she prevails!
In general it is icky that it was all done by men, but even wearing my feminist glasses I can't hate it. Highly enjoyable. All the good things people say are 100% true. The only issue I had was just weird inconsistency with her aging process, like even in a fantasy world like that there are some implied rules and logic and they were broken. The way she would hardly be able to talk but grasped complex concepts, or hardly was able to walk but could physically perform sexual actions, that just didn't add up to me personally.