"Affemmée de viol-ence" ou "Délivre-nous du mâle". Violence et féminité dans "La Mariée était en noir".

Abstract

This essay is a study of the relation between femininity and violence, in relation to the main character, in the subgenre rape/revenge. I study this phenomenon – through an analysis of the main character in Truffaut's movie The Bride Wore Black – and I make use of two different feminist theories : the « classic » feminism of Simone de Beauvoir, and post-feminism, as it is developed by Jeffrey Brown. Through examination of scenes of the film, where the interaction between violence and femininity is manifest, I attempt to understand how the formula of the genre has been altered. Thus, I determine which effects that are entailed by this modification concerning e.g. the story as well as the perception of the main character and her violent acts. I show how the coexistance of violence and femininity may entail new effects in relation to the comprehension of the main character, and how the relation between femininity and violence can be understood by two different feminist theories, something which may contribute to the understanding of, not only this particular film, but also the genre of rape/revenge.