Close Menu
  • Login
  • Support Us
  • Newsletter
  • News
  • Features
  • Interviews
  • Reviews
    • Video Games
      • Previews
      • PC
      • PS5
      • Xbox Series X/S
      • Nintendo Switch
      • Xbox One
      • PS4
      • Tabletop
    • Film
    • TV
    • Anime
    • Comics
      • BOOM! Studios
      • Dark Horse Comics
      • DC Comics
      • IDW Publishing
      • Image Comics
      • Indie Comics
      • Marvel Comics
      • Oni-Lion Forge
      • Valiant Comics
      • Vault Comics
  • Podcast
  • More
    • Event Coverage
    • BWT Recommends
    • RSS Feeds
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
Support Us
But Why Tho?
RSS Facebook X (Twitter) YouTube
Trending:
  • Features
    Cosmic Spider-Man card details

    [EXCLUSIVE PREVIEW] The Spider-Man Set Gets A 5-Color Legendary Spider

    09/02/2025
    Lee Corso from College Football GameDay in EA Sports games

    EA Sports Always Understood Lee Corso’s Legacy

    09/01/2025
    Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 2 But Why Tho 10

    Spider-Man Is Coming To Magic And It’s Just Like The Comics

    08/29/2025
    Star Wars Visions Volume 3 Black

    ‘Black’ Sets The Tone For A Bold New Mixtape In ‘Star Wars Visions: Volume 3’

    08/28/2025
    Olivia Colman in The Roses

    ‘The Roses’ Is A Reimagining, Not A Remake, And That’s Why It Works So Well

    08/27/2025
  • Indie Games
  • K-Dramas
  • Netflix
  • Apple TV+
But Why Tho?
Home » Film » SXSW 2021: Violation Strikes a Grounded Chord

SXSW 2021: Violation Strikes a Grounded Chord

Kate SánchezBy Kate Sánchez03/18/20214 Mins ReadUpdated:08/22/2022
Violation
"Violation"
Share
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Reddit WhatsApp Email

Violation

Content Warning: Violation and this article feature discussion of rape

Violation is a rape-revenge thriller written and directed by Dusty Mancinelli and Madeleine Sims-Fewer. Having previously screened at Sundance, the film stars Sims-Fewer, Anna Maguire, Jesse LaVercombe, Obi Abili, Jasmin Geljo, and Cynthia Ashperger. As a subgenre, rape-revenge films are hit or miss depending on what the audience brings to it and how the film executes the tropes of the genre.

Get BWT in your inbox!

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and get the latest and greated in entertainment coverage.
Click Here

Get BWT in your inbox!

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and get the latest and greated in entertainment coverage.
Click Here

In Violation, Miriam (Madeleine Sims-Fewer), a troubled woman on the edge of divorce, returns home to her younger sister after years apart. But when her sister and brother-in-law betray her trust, she embarks on a vicious crusade of revenge. While the film hits the familiar beats, it also chronicles the erosion of a familial bond and the heightened emotion that goes into the anger and pain that only someone who is supposed to protect you and understand you can inflict.

The start of Violation is joyous. It’s a communal enjoyment of nature and closeness. Then, it’s not. Accompanied with a score of strings, the orchestral background changes to shrieking strings that build an air of dread as the picture inverts and changes, creating an uncomfortable distortion for the viewer. These moments are cut into what seems like a normal sibling story. Cutting from sisterly arguments to ominous close-ups of a body. The film switches between different times, with the characters’ looks changing as well, a sharp change in color palette and sound each time.

Violation excels because of how Sims-Fewer and Mancinelli tell Miriam’s story. The narrative here isn’t linear and because of that, the act and the revenge happen out of time and place. We learn bits and pieces of the rape and the gaslighting afterward out of sequence. This works in the film’s favor because we process Mariam’s trauma with her. She moves through it without a sense of time, and so, the audience also sees things out of order. We’re left to question what is real, what is not, and what place in the story it happens.

The film at its core isn’t just about the act of sexual violence, it’s about the way the violation continues like ripples throughout your life. The way it continues to touch you no matter much you try to recover. It’s about the way trauma stays. Rape isn’t just a violation of a body, but something much deeper.

This is shown not only when Miriam confronts her rapist, but also when she confronts her sister. They both gaslight her. They both blame her. They both violate another element of trust. This is most pronounced in her choice to seek vengeance against her sister and not her rapist.

When the rape happens, it’s shown, nearly in its entirety. But unlike others shown in the genre, it isn’t traditionally violent. It isn’t the scene from Revenge or I Spit on Your Grave, but it’s no less brutal. While others in the genre have focused on creating a visually brutal scenario, Sims-Fewer and Mancinelli create a more personal violation. One that is slow, one without blood, one that just goes until it stops. That is more menacing. It’s what makes Violation so viscerally unnerving because the assault Miriam experiences isn’t sensationalized. It’s something that will look familiar to women watching the film, the fear of someone you’re supposed to trust violating that sacred boundary and the fear that comes with the silence you’re pushed into afterward.

Use this to resize images 2021 03 18T213408.513

Because of this, the violence with which Miriam uses to take her revenge feels even more cathartic. It captures the pain of that moment. One that her rapist refused to acknowledge as anything other than a fantasy for him. It’s a reclamation of power. But at the same time, she isn’t written without her pain coming to the surface. She doesn’t relish in her retribution. In fact, it wounds her in a different way. Catharsis can be painful.

That said, as the film goes on into its final act, the pain that Miriam emoted changes into a calm resolve that reveals the methodical nature with which she planned her act of revenge. By showcasing not only the act of self-imposed justice but also the aftermath, Violation becomes grounded in the entire process of grief, anger, and retribution that serves as a cycle for many rape-revenge films.

Overall, Violation is stunning, heartbreaking, and cathartic. As a story about the bonds we make and how they’re betrayed, the film is a success. In its bleak ending, it shirks the idea of rape-revenge thrillers, offering a bleak and open ending that reflects reality. It’s an ending of silence and sadness and somehow, it works. A cold ending, one that delivers revenge with a somber note, but served nonetheless.

Violation was screened at the 2021 SXSW Film Festival and is streaming exclusively on Shudder.

Violation
  • 8.5/10
    Rating - 8.5/10
8.5/10

TL;DR

Violation is stunning, heartbreaking, and cathartic. As a story about the bonds we make and how they’re betrayed, the film is a success. In its bleak ending, it shirks the idea of rape-revenge thrillers, offering a bleak and open ending that reflects reality. It’s an ending of silence and sadness and somehow, it works.

Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Email
Previous ArticleSXSW 2021: ‘Made For Love,’ Episode 1
Next Article DLC REVIEW: ‘The Outer Worlds: Murder on Eridanos’—A Whodunnit in Halcyon (XSX)
Kate Sánchez
  • Website
  • X (Twitter)
  • Instagram

Kate Sánchez is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of But Why Tho? A Geek Community. There, she coordinates film, television, anime, and manga coverage. Kate is also a freelance journalist writing features on video games, anime, and film. Her focus as a critic is championing animation and international films and television series for inclusion in awards cycles. Find her on Bluesky @ohmymithrandir.bsky.social

Related Posts

Choi Gyu-ri, Shin Eun-Soo in Love Untangled
7.5

REVIEW: ‘Love Untangled’ Is Just Adorable

08/31/2025
Austin Butler in Caught Stealing
8.5

REVIEW: ‘Caught Stealing’ Marks An Exciting Pivot for Darren Aronofsky

08/27/2025
Margaret Qualley stars as Honey O' Donahue in the film Honey Don't
8.5

REVIEW: ‘Honey Don’t!’ Is A Genius Work Of Subversion And Fantasy Fulfillment

08/25/2025
Benedict Cumberbatch in The Roses But Why Tho
5.0

 REVIEW: ‘The Roses’ Lacks A Thorny Edge

08/25/2025
Mert Ramazan Demir in Abandoned Man
6.5

REVIEW: ‘Abandoned Man’ Lacks Depth In Its Take On Betrayal

08/22/2025
Ne Zha 2 promotional still from a24
10.0

REVIEW: ‘Ne Zha 2’ Is One Of The Most Epic Feats Of Animation

08/21/2025

Get BWT in your inbox!

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and get the latest and greated in entertainment coverage.
Click Here
TRENDING POSTS
Cosmic Spider-Man card details Features

[EXCLUSIVE PREVIEW] The Spider-Man Set Gets A 5-Color Legendary Spider

By Kate Sánchez09/02/2025Updated:09/02/2025

An exclusive look at a new 5-Color Spider entering Magic: The Gathering’s Spider-Man set, and Cosmic Spider-Man is going to be a tough one to take on.

Hololive EN at Radio City Music Hall Events

Hololive EN At Radio City Music Hall Was A Pure Expression Of Fandom

By Adrian Ruiz08/31/2025Updated:09/03/2025

Hololive EN turned Radio City in New York City into the pure expression of fandom: chants, penlights, and community in perfect sync.

Karl Anthony Towns in NBA 2k26 But Why Tho
8.5
PS5

REVIEW: ‘NBA 2K26’ Brings Basketball To Life

By Kyle Foley09/03/2025

NBA 2K26 combines improved visuals with some important tweaks to keep the series feeling fresh in the latest yearly release.

Cronos: The New Dawn Nest
8.0
PC

REVIEW: ‘Cronos: The New Dawn’ Does Post-Apocalyptic Psychological Horror Right

By Mick Abrahamson09/03/2025Updated:09/03/2025

While not particularly sacry, Cronos: The New Dawn is a lot of fun as a survival horror that puts you in the futuristic armor of the Traveler.

But Why Tho?
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest RSS YouTube Twitch
  • CONTACT US
  • ABOUT US
  • PRIVACY POLICY
  • SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER
  • Review Score Guide
Sometimes we include links to online retail stores. If you click on one and make a purchase we may receive a small contribution.
Written Content is Copyright © 2025 But Why Tho? A Geek Community

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

But Why Tho Logo

Support Us!

We're able to keep making content thanks to readers like YOU!
Support independent media today with
Click Here