Looking at the different sides of this obscure holiday thriller
The Shape of Water officially has officially opened and immediately took its place as Guillermo del Toro’s masterpiece thanks not just to its stunning visuals, but its rich and layered story. Containing the heart of a fairy tale and the head of a morality play, The Shape of Water is a breathtaking testament to del Toro’s power and poetry as a filmmaker.
Although it’s different in every way imaginable, The Shape of Water calls to mind for me another del Toro project, the 2008 thriller While She Was Out, a small indie thriller executive produced by the filmmaker which likewise featured a strong female character finding her voice.
Written and directed by Susan Montford from a short story by Edward Bryant, the main character of While She Was Out is Della (Kim Basinger), an upper-middle class suburban housewife in an abusive marriage who makes a last-minute trip to the mall on Christmas Eve. After seeing a car taking up two spaces in the crowded parking lot, Della becomes inspired to leave a harsh note condemning the action. Coming out of the mall later on, she finds herself faced with the owners of the car; a gang of thugs led by the sadistic Chuckie (Lukas Haas). Things quickly turn violent with Chuckie killing a security guard and him and his gang chasing Della into the nearby woods. Armed with only the red toolbox from the back of her car, Della must summon up the courage to stay alive.
With a premise such as the one for this film, it’s only expected that there would be a number of campy, action sequences on hand. Although the ones seen throughout the course of While She Was Out tend to border on exploitative at times, it’s impossible not to have fun as Basinger takes out one low-life after another with the likes of a road flare, a tire iron and any other makeshift weapon she finds within her toolbox. The villains themselves do tend to play on their racial stereotypes, which isn’t helped by the sometimes questionable dialogue they’re given to say. “That soul’s gone bad,” one of them says to Chuckie at a certain point as the gang suddenly discovers that the tables have turned.
But While She Was Out embraces its campy trappings with total abandon and the utmost pride all the way through, a fact that extended even to the film’s marketing with its tagline proclaiming: “This Christmas, Kim Basinger WILL have peace on earth!” When I saw del Toro at an event a couple of years ago, I took the opportunity to tell him I loved the film he had greatly helped in bringing to the screen, which resulted in him exclaiming: “Wasn’t that great?! That red box of death?!”
All animated action and violence aside, While She Was Out is purely a tale of a woman finally finding her voice. I love how Montford’s film takes this incredibly gentle, timid creature and turns her into an unstoppable warrior. The film forces Della, someone so easily written off as privileged and safe, to reach down and discover her most primal instincts. Most feminist heroes today come in the form of Black Widow and Wonder Woman, both of whom come complete with otherworldly strength and powers. The best thing about Della is how her powers are purely instinctual, devoid of training and cunning techniques, originating instead from an inherent will to survive and not be a victim any longer.
Della may be a woman trapped in an abusive marriage who suddenly finds herself surrounded by thugs; yet her character may be the most violent one in While She Was Out. Looking at how Della reacts to the life-threatening situation in front of her, one can easily view her actions as the result of pent-up rage. Its rage stemming from years of abuse; of subservience; of the maddening pressures of suburban life. By the end of While She Was Out, the forever-changed Della seems to find herself in a sort of daze. Clearly this is shock to what she has just endured, but more than that, it’s also a deep thoughtful trance in which Della is wondering: Who am I now?
There is no film here without Basinger. Although she’s been asked to play fragile and vulnerable numerous times throughout her career, very rarely has she ever been victimized or given a character which requires her to take on such an intense arc and journey as she does with Della. The fact that she manages to do it all while keeping Della a real person instead of a continuously scared, blubbering mess, makes her performance one of the best in her career and takes the movie to a much higher level than one would think. As the film’s heavy, Haas gets a chance to be both malevolent and slick, having fun in a rare villainous turn and milking every moment the role has to offer. The actor wisely doles out his character’s various motives and emotions in the most crafty of ways, making him fleshed out, but always something of a threat.
While She Was Out was never meant to be a wide release with a profitable opening weekend. In fact the film only played in a small handful of theaters in the U.S. before disappearing to DVD obscurity shortly thereafter. Critics meanwhile reacted and most would expect when it comes to a film like While She Was Out, greeting it with lackluster reviews. Yet most couldn’t help but praise the central character, Basinger’s performance as well as the film’s overall aim.
I’m still waiting for the day when While She Was Out attains the cult status it has earned from the day it was first unleashed. Besides serving as a piece of alternate holiday viewing, the film has some pretty decent thrills, one wonderfully cartoonish death scene after another and a great heroine at the center of it. And yet it also has something much more telling in it’s story that cannot be denied. Though outlandish at some points for sure, the essence of While She Was Out is an ode to victims of domestic abuse and violent crimes alike, showing them that no one is truly weak and that everyone is capable of fighting back.
