Note: The following movie review addresses the topic of rape depicted on film. Reader discretion is advised.
French film multi-hyphenate Anne Thorens’ Diagonal, an official selection at over three dozen cinema festivals the world over, is an incredibly evocative debut that is sure to stay in the psyches of most viewers for a very long time. According to Thorens, the film is “a single take of 5 minutes questioning our vision about relationships between man and woman. This film is not an answer, it’s made like a question.”
Diagonal opens with a wide shot of the two sole characters Her/Elle (Leonor Oberson) and Him/Lui (Cyprien Colombo) passionately kissing in a bedroom. Clothing pieces are removed, and they end up in bed. Her asks Him if he has a condom, to which he confirms in the negative. Understandably, Her does not want to engage in sex without protection. Him’s animalistic interest does not wane, however.
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Him leads Her to under the covers, while declaring that if she wants to continue seeing him, she needs to be on birth control. As if this somehow protects anybody from HIV and a whole host of STD dangers. Him manipulates Her into turning on her side, her back to his body.
In one flicker of time, we see Her’s content countenance change to a heartbreakingly wordless state of numbness. Cinematographer Oskar Rosetti’s camera goes from a wide shot at the start, to gradually closing on the couple, and finally on Her’s traumatized reaction. These framing shifts remind the spectator that a victim/survivor of rape can feel trapped in their own being, bodily self-autonomy stripped in these moments of terror.
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Watching Diagonal led to many thoughts for this reviewer. One of them being, is it possible that acts of rape are happening globally at the same proportion as consensual sex? Because as many films, television shows, books, and stage plays have been made in the past century addressing this soul-shattering violation, it appears that even today, would-be sexual offenders (intimate partners included) prefer to risk prison or death, than respect the inherent dignity of their targeted victims.
Or is it that they bank on the frozen silence of the people they betray, because telling strangers (hospital staff and law enforcement) of this most intimate hurt, creates a risk of trauma multiplied? Anne Thorens’ Diagonal is a sobering, impactful short film that chooses to remember the grave damages of rape that predators would like to feign amnesia for.