Swallow | Indie Gems

Loneliness has been dealt with in cinema for years in various shades and forms but Swallow adds a whole new dimension to the story of self-discovery in the guise of a thriller. Halley Bennet might have delivered the performance of a lifetime in this strange, moody yet highly captivating character piece revolving around a newly wed bride’s quest for self-discovery in a society that has never acknowledged her existence up until that point. This one-line synopsis does not do justice to the densely layered film by Carlo Mirabella Davis. Swallow is a whole lot of things but not an easy watch for the dreaded world created by its filmmaker. There is an impending sense of despair and dread in the daily routine of Hunter (Halley Bennet )  a seemingly clueless housewife who finds it difficult to cope with a workaholic husband who is always busy in his own world.

This sense of void in her existence forces her to develop a strange habit of swallowing pretty much any object that comes her way in the house due to an unknown urge resulting from a practically nonexistent life. Halley is very unhappy with the way things are going with her husband and wants to set things straight but is not able to help herself when the urge strikes. In one scene she explains to her rather cold and distant mother in law that she is was leading a worthless life until her marriage and she is grateful for making her part of their family thereby settling her in life. The scene comes across as the first point of entry into her disturbed past and underlines her lack of identity early in the screenplay.

The writing is very subtle yet effective as the director is not trying to cash in on the tragic nature of her past yet showing us Hunter as a very disturbed girl with many childhood issues.One fine day her husband and family discover her strange habit during a routine pregnancy checkup and that leads to the beginning of the end for her miserable existence. Hunter is not able to explain her actions and is taken to a shrink to have her problem identified. She opens up about dark secrets of her life to the shrink over the course of a few sessions involving a overtly religious conservative nutjob of a mother and family. Things start getting worse when she is unable to resist the temptation to swallow these inedible objects even after being under constant surveillance from a house help hired to look after her condition.

Hunter tries to regain the love of her husband and his family but to no avail, they continue to isolate and look down on her at each given opportunity. The film then goes on to show her stand up to her past and accepting her true worth after an emotional encounter with her estranged biological father. She starts to go down a path of self-discovery only to realize the reason for her identity crisis. Swallow can be viewed as a story of a loner trying to stand up to her own self in a world which is busy condescending her existence for reasons beyond her control and understanding. Inspired framing devices , beautiful cinematography and fabulous performances make this a memorable film that tries to converse about a very familiar cause in a very unfamiliar way