When feminism meets love
Since the explosion of the #MeToo movement, women’s voices have become freer, but some areas remain taboo. One of these is the impact of the male gaze on self-esteem. The film starts from a simple and painful reality: many women hate themselves, to the point of fearing that their bodies will disgust their partners.
Through poignant personal accounts, Problème sans nom questions the place of the body in love relationships. Can we love, and be loved, when we feel constantly judged? How can you surrender to someone when you see yourself as inadequate – too fat, too hairy, too old, or simply not perfect enough?
Looking at the camera to free yourself
Inspired by the work of Agnès Varda, Clary Demangeon and Jeanne Delafosse, the film borrows from the feminist ciné-tract: a direct, concise and hard-hitting format in which the camera gaze becomes a political gesture.
The women no longer hide. They look the viewer straight in the eye, make demands, express their indignation and sometimes laugh. They tell their stories through images that have been cut, manipulated and torn. An art workshop becomes a place of struggle, where we collectively deconstruct the fragmented bodies imposed on us by advertising.
The body, a jigsaw puzzle in pieces
The mise en scène is based on a fragmented female anatomy, with close-ups of breasts, legs and buttocks in magazines, dismembered mannequins and omnipresent advertising posters in urban spaces. This visual puzzle highlights the disembodiment of the female body, reduced to a commercial argument, cut off from all humanity.
The climax of the film shows a mannequin being manhandled – dressed, made up, pulled like a doll. Gestures become abrupt, accompanied by intimate accounts of humiliation: imposed diets, destructive comparisons, daily remarks. The symbolic violence suddenly takes on a physical, tangible and unbearable form.