Unsolicitrus is an abstract, surrealist take on the traditional wife’s role, and the way it perpetuates sexual assault or unwanted sexual advancements within a marriage. The use of “citrus” pertains to the usage of an orange, as women’s body shapes/types are often compared to fruit shapes. The orange holds more meaning, however, in representing a metaphorical and literal skin, as well as the act of undressing. These metaphorical strategies persist throughout the short, representing a very raw reality visually masked by objects around the house. The use of household objects serves to establish a fixed setting, as if “the house” is the only place to be for this point of view– all the time. In a typical 1950s “housewife” narrative, their significant other comes home from their blue-collar job expectant to be fed by the woman, to undress the woman for making love, and to sleep for the following day. It’s shown that this day-to-day routine– and the role of the “housewife” in general– can become rather suffocating. With this comes the dire need for change of pace, resulting in an unfortunately familiar narrative of domestic abuse coming from routine straying in a different direction. Avant-garde culture reflects “the imitation of imitating”, as my film uses imitations of seemingly everyday objects and occurrences to represent harsh realities embellished by a cascading and tumbling ambience of various audios. This audio track has a flow that mimics its visuals, as the softer feel of the film’s start intertwines audio rather gracefully with hushed, whispering tones, muffled struggle, and soft moans. A switch of slight rebellion sends sound haywire, with jarring and sporadic essences that coincide with a disturbing combination of visual crime scenes as a result of “forced entry” (make of that what you will). All male voices pictured in this film are loud, commanding, assertive, and jarring, in contrast to the way in which the female presence must be kept silent.
My inspiration film, A Place Called Lovely by Sadie Benning, highlights personal, home experiences that are peppered with violent realities, such as “beatings, accidents and murders,” and “using small toys as props and examples”. My take on this changed the narrative, but kept the element of prop usage in order to represent a situation found in 736 million women (almost one in three) that have been subjected to intimate partner violence and domestic abuse. Surrealist films often use tactics of “mad voyeurism”, which in this case, is shown from a perspective of the dark side of personal home life. The audience is almost an eavesdropper on the situations at hand, staying for the revenge, and the eventual healing process. This healing, a necessity to accomplish recovery from trauma, is represented within the previously ripped out/extracted “guts”, or alternatively interpreted as the female genitals, as it is sewn back up into something brand new. A flower-like chunk hanging off the top of the sewing needle acts as a flower– because that’s usually what women want… right? (And playing into the narrative of “deflowering”) The flower is given off to the woman next door. Could she have been having an affair with this woman? I leave the rest up to audience interpretation for their own theory through my film’s audio and visual combinations. I hope you enjoy!

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