To me, this movie seems to disguise the over sexualization of young girls in modern day cinema, but it does so with a flair. Not your typical movie. I can get on board. In fact, the exact opposite occurred. Instead of pursuing an interest in sports, or art, or science, she discovers her body, and with that, masturbation and sex. I would guess at this point she would be a five or six year old, and to me it seemed completely inappropriate for a child to be doing this on camera.
An adult woman, fine. When I watched this film, the men in it do not see her as a woman, or even a human, but an experiment. Once she is found, naked from the waist down, the lawyer proceeds to touch her, just for a moment, before he proclaims he wants to sleep with her and take her to Portugal. Consequently, Bella ends up in Portugal with Mark Ruffalo the lawyer, and has sex with him consistenly.
In her free time, she attempts to understand more about the world, wandering around a fictitious Lisbon, with curiosity on her mind. This bit of intellect I greatly appreciated. I see that the author and Lanthimos try to show that she is encouraged by other things, with books being her main source of information, and for that I am grateful. However, it was not enough in my opinion. Yet, before she can go home, she gets stranded in Paris where she becomes a prostitute.
For a while, we see her consistently have sex with strange men, and according to the director and Bella, she is broadening her mind. Now, if this were a grown woman, capable of making her own decisions, I would have no issue with this film. Having sex is a natural part of life, and it should not be shunned. However, this book was written by a man. The screenplay was written by a man. This movie was directed by a man. With this, I see this as men telling women what they really need more in their lives: sex.
Now, even though Emma Stone was a producer, and for that I applaud her, I think that she thought this was alright, and that is her opinion. Her adult opinion, however, I disagree with. And, as one more footnote, the protagonist in this film is a child. When societies normalize this on screen, how long is it before it is normalized in the home? I, as a woman, and as someone who has seen sex trafficking first hand, cannot condone a film like this.
