The Slut (2011) User Reviews

Daring at times, but mostly pointless and/or incongruous

[ecobiker-00710 · 3/10 · 6 September 2016]

I "get" that indie films can sometimes be unconventional in ways that leave viewers bewildered, uncomfortable, unimpressed or otherwise dissatisfied, but usually there is a point to such films that even a dissatisfied viewer can appreciate. I do not think that "The Slut" has such a point.

The pacing is mostly plodding. Sure, rural life plods along most of the time, but the screenwriter's/director's choice of how to reflect this seemed contrived, and made the 86-minute film seem much longer. For example, at one point a character loses a few items from the back of a vehicle. The character retrieves those items, slowly. Then, the scene cuts to a wide-angle shot, lingering on the stationary vehicle and the surrounding landscape. To me, this felt like directorial laziness -- "Viewers, ruminate over the ostensibly humdrum scenery, and eventually realise its bleak grandeur!" -- rather than inspiration. But perhaps I've seen too many films employing this kind of padding, and others will feel an awe that I did not.

There are also two key incongruities that detract meaningfully from this film. For a film that mostly skims over plot and relegates dialogue to a few mumbles, the sex can be quite graphic, with male genitalia often presented in full view (and turgidity). Although I imagine that the sex is not intended to titillate, I wonder why it seems to be the most real thing in an otherwise mostly unreal project.

Secondly, the film's climax, though probably intended as a twist, comes across as completely unbelievable.

Realistic but also very boring!

[RodrigAndrisan · 4/10 · 8 November 2018]

Not too much dialogue in this one, repetitive scene with the woman selling eggs, a few soft sex scenes and that's all folks!

Dull and pointless

[grantss · 1/10 · 22 September 2020]

Dull and pointless. At best, pretentious, at worst, random. Drifts from the start and, even at only 87 minutes, feels far too long.

Possibly

[lefiedler-43013 · 1/10 · 21 September 2021]

In my 79 years of life this is NOT amongst the worst movies I have seen. This movie should have been rated DW (Don't Watch)!

This is film that ends on a very dark note

[lambiepie-2 · 1/10 · 11 June 2023]

In many of my reviews of foreign films, I often mention the old Los Angeles cable channel called "Z" - as it showed films that American Cinema didn't dare touch the subjects like foreign filmmakers Did. And movies that were getting acclaim from Cannes and other film festivals appeared on that channel. This film reminds me of one of those films from the 70s/80s. Still, this one takes a very dark turn for me, and only because IMDb requires a rating, I did one, but it is below that for me once it hits the final quarter. For me, it makes no difference if a woman or a man wrote and directed it; there is NO excuse for this film to have ended to what I interpreted it to be.

It starts as a story of a woman in a village who sold eggs but serviced men - and they all knew her and where they could go. She doesn't seem ashamed about her station as the film unfolds, so neither should the film watcher. She knows what she is; she has two daughters to whom she ALSO seems to know (And she doesn't seem to factor that into her promiscuous behavior even though she has tried to have her trysts away from them) and is curious as to what she does with these men as well. Ok.

Then a veterinarian comes to town and enters her life and seems to calm her behavior for a while, even to make you think she could fall in love with him. And settle down? The hope is there - she seems to be headed to a 'one woman' man; he appears to be directed towards being a family man as he looks to provide a father figure for the two young girls. Ok.

But then comes next is what I found deeply disturbing and threw me for a loop. Again, it's important to note it's all for interpretation because (thank goodness!!!!) this review is my interpretation. The veterinarian finds Tamar back to her old doings, having an encounter with some man from the village. The Vet realizes this woman will not change. He goes back to where he was staying with her and her daughters. The daughters had fallen asleep, so he put them to separate beds, one in the bed he and their mother shared.

Then we see him strip naked (back view) in that bedroom, and then we see Tamar, the mother, peer through the window, horrified. She runs to her neighbors' homes - seemingly for help. Then we see the neighbors/men of the village beat this man senselessly. He crawls up in a fetal position, and she comes over to him and holds him.

I get this is to show two incredibly damaged individuals (although there was no hint of the Vet being so ''til the end of this film). But I did not need that conclusion. I could not draw anything from it than what I believed happened and for me, too much for this film watcher; over the top and when it comes to children, and film-this was not necessary - and I am not being prudish (I got through the film this far!) but as a woman - she could have done better with the theme.

I found it an "excuse" to contrast the character's overly promiscuous behavior to throw in a very, very bad scene to show how more disgusting men can be no matter how long she's been doing the town for years and in that she hasn't been too interested in her daughters and how they may see her (and in little spots, you see the daughters are not blind to her behavior). But it's now "the guy" who is that bad one, not the woman who has been doing the town. Wow. Not Cannes Award material, in my two cents. Please understand me; I see the symbolism throughout the film, but that does not negate my interpretation as shared above.

My review does not recommend this film, but if you're going to watch this for curiosity's sake, be warned it isn't for everyone and may leave you feeling like I do - to wish I had taken a pass on it.

Worst movie ever seen

[marnielester · 1/10 · 23 April 2013]

This movie is without a doubt one of the worst I have ever seen. Even if it is meant to purely be a dirty movie it fails miserably. The female lead is undeniably a slut, I would not however call her beautiful. I came into it partway through as my husband was watching it and he said 'it may be the worst movie he had ever seen'. From the lazy scripting to the appalling camera work to the sheer pointlessness of it. How this movie was nominated let alone won an award staggers me. The seriously disturbing end was the icing on a very bad cake. This is a definite must not see.

My husband's comment part way through was how disturbed he was by the young vet kissing this woman. By halfway through the film I became convinced her daughters would be better off with the boyfriend as I saw nothing that indicated she was their mother. Therefore the twist at the end was unacceptable and confusing.

Movie Drags

[chuyrobles-37844 · 2/10 · 13 March 2022]

The movie is boring and found the title to be crude and obscene. Didn't pick up if she was a widow for divorcee but she did what a typical lonely woman would do. That is not slutty.

Not for everyone

[Malgus · 6/10 · 11 March 2015]

I usually try to watch as many films as possible that get a nomination at Cannes, and The Slut was such movie (even though it didn't win anything there). This is basically one person production: created and directed by the Israeli filmmaker, Hagar Ben Asher. She also acts in it.

The story is about a single mother, Tamar, who lives in a rural area with her two daughters and works at a chicken farm. She's obsessed with sex and provides sexual favors to various men in the village. One day she meets Shai, a veterinarian, and starts a relationship with him.

The best I can describe this film in one word is.. weird. It uses strange symbolism and is very minimalistic in its approach, from screenplay to acting. The cinematography is actually quite impressive for something with virtually no budget. It attempts to make a character study, but spectacularly forgoes nearly all characterization. Something tells me it was done on purpose, but something like this can potentially leave the viewer completely detached from the characters. The end result may therefore seem like nothing more than cinematic expressionism of sorts.

Having said that, I kind of liked The Slut. It's uncanny and raw. Uncanny because while being set in a boring environment, it manages to produce a surreal scenario (at least from where I'm standing). It's sad, disturbing and yet strangely fascinating. It should be obvious that this movie isn't for everyone. Do not expect casual entertainment. Do not expect some sort of porno either. It does have graphic sex scenes and some reviewers even screamed "unsimulated sex". The lead actor categorically denied this, so I'll take his word for it. Not that it really matters. But if graphic sexual content offends you, please do everyone a favor, and DO NOT WATCH this. Otherwise, it's a pretty unconventional and interesting piece of indie film-making.

A movie by and for the very depressed

[nemman63 · 2/10 · 13 October 2023]

About halfway through as yet another scene played out without dialogue, with the characters looking as sad and listless as can be, I realized that whoever directed this movie was very seriously clinically depressed.

I later found out that it was the leading actress who directed and wrote it. In the film the only life and fleeting joy cam during sex, and most of the time not even then.

I thought something was off about the main male character, and unlike most viewers was not surprised by "the twist" or "the climax" as other viewers were.

He just accepted her cheating without even showing any emotion, and then when she casually announced she had an aborted her pregnancy with his child (maybe), he didn't even comment or talk to her about it, or express any emotion whatsoever. It was then that I realized he did not love her and was in the relationship for another reason.

I didn't like the movie, or find it very interesting. It was simply unpleasant to watch someone elses mental illness inflicted on the viewer.

I gave it 2 stars for at least being honest.

Vet and woman heal each other

[maurice_yacowar · 10/10 · 10 June 2023]

This sexually explicit drama is of special interest because its lead actress, Hagar Ben Asher, also wrote and directed the film. All superbly.

Only the cell phones establish the contemporary setting of this rural Israeli community. Otherwise its examination of the transactional nature of female sexuality in society could be any time in history.

Her name, Tamar, evokes the Genesis heroine who avenged herself on her father-in-law Judah for breaking his promise of providing the twice-widow with her third husband (after seed-spiller Onan!). Tamar posed as a roadside prostitute to become pregnant by Judah - then exposes him. That falsely accused prostitute undercuts the heroine's reduction by the film's title.

We know nothing of the film Tamar's past. She works as an egg-seller (aptly enough) and is a loving, responsible mother to her two young daughters. (The Biblical Tamar had twin sons out of Judah.) When her maternal responsibilities allow, she freely gives sexual services to the local men who help her. The bike repairman even provides bikes for her two daughters - her service in exchange for goods.

In these transactions Tamar takes various degrees of seeming pleasure and detached interest. She shows no desire for a fuller relationship. These encounters give her fleeting connection and practical benefits. By providing only manual or oral sex she keeps control over the men.

Tamar changes when she goes to bed in an emotional, non-transactional way with Shay, the vet who has returned to his dead mother's home. When she drops to fellate him he pulls her up for a fuller embrace. After the darkness and detachment of her servicing scenes, her full sex with Shay erupts in a golden glow. Now the sex is love. She invites his insemination and thrills him with news she is pregnant. At Shay's invitation Tamar and her daughters move into his home. His ease with the girls suggest his potential fatherliness.

So what goes wrong? That she loves Shay is clear from her phone calls and her pleasure at his comfort with her daughters. But her pattern of sexual barter inhibits her break from her past. She delays her users rather than denying them. To put off one client she deliberately spills a tray of eggs (shades of that Onan). Accustomed to using sex impersonally she seems unable to convert fully to the love with Shay. Perhaps frightened of the new emotion, or by her loss of control in the new intensity, she unilaterally aborts Shay's child and uses his increasing engagement with her daughters to stay away from their home.

Shay senses her increasing alienation. After he and the girls frolic in a pool he goes to get Tamar. When he spots her with a hastily fleeing partner Shay leaves her there and speeds home. He puts the girls to bed, the older one in his and Tamar's bed.

What ensues we don't know but we see him stripping naked at the foot of the bed. Tamar returns and is shocked by what she sees through the window. We hear heavy breathing. At the least he may be masturbating. This is entirely out of character. Perhaps he feels himself isolated, perhaps even unmanned by his new domestication, the abortion, Tamar's infidelity. Perhaps here his sexual aberration parallels Tamar's debilitating sexual pragmatism.

After she has roused a neighbour, three men beat up Shay. In the last shot he lies in a foetal curl and she embraces him. The man who has led her back from cold sexuality to love is reduced to a helpless child.

That finale suggests Tamar's struggle to sustain love with Shay against the sexual determinism that is woman's fate. Tamar's pragmatic use of her sex has compromised her emotional life and freedom. The power she seems to deploy is still her radical restriction. Even in an apparently mutual "use" the male retains the advantage. That the daughters will grow into this dilemma is suggested in the scene where they - however still playfully - explore sexual embrace.

The opening scene sets this theme. The camera pans across a quiet, pallid country field, arriving at a closeup of the legs of a handsome horse. Suddenly the mare breaks free, leaps a fence and runs wild - only to be knocked down by a motorist. Through the course of the narrative Shay heals the horse, enabling her to run off again. Like Tamar, the horse is a free natural spirit doomed to paying the world's price on her freedom. As a healer, Shay is drawn to Tamar, but at the end both need each other to heal.

... for most of the entire world sexual mental conditions remain untreated

[bjarias · 7/10 · 20 July 2023]

... there are several adult films of varying degrees of erotic content.. having several what might be construed as hard-core scenes in the context of this film, they do show properly in the overall storytelling

... sex is a big-frequent-topic in movies, and when it is done right, it is good for the film... here the story might be somewhat uncomplex.. she has a insatiable-compulsion for sex with various (same) men in her village... at the same time recently living together with another man who is experiencing a hard time coming to terms with her addiction... a crisis happens and this results the audience left wondering do or don't they remain together and how they deal with what is happening

... the several few main characters are well chosen and perform exceptionally well in this production... it is a film to be watched more than just once or twice.