Movie review: ‘The Woman’

When a man at the Sundance Film Festival premiere of “The Woman” this year had some sort of outburst, it immediately branded the movie as a dangerous magnet for controversy, like some shock-tactic corollary to the more recent “Human Centipede 2.” The big difference between those two films is that “The Woman” does have a point; it’s just that the point is minor and rather obvious.

In a McMansion subdivision carved out against an expanse of undeveloped woods, a man (Sean Bridgers) comes across a feral woman (Pollyanna McIntosh) raised by the proverbial wolves. He captures her, chains her up in his cellar and, as a family project, sets about vaguely domesticating her while also sexually abusing her. That Bridgers plays the father with a vacant, twangy swagger not-so-vaguely like President George W. Bush is perhaps less of a surprise than if he hadn’t.

Written by Lucky McKee with Jack Ketchum from their own novel and directed by McKee, “The Woman” is unsubtle and inelegant. McKee’s 2002 debut feature, “May,” weaved a modern-day fable from the story of a young woman yearning for companionship and acceptance. But all the magical touches McKee displayed in that film have been hammered away by a bludgeoning obviousness, the equivalent of a message sent in all caps. Men can be self-centered! Power enables cruelty! Behavior is passed down!

McKee still has raw talent as a filmmaker, and so “The Woman” has a brutal power to rattle and unnerve, but especially in light of an unnecessary late twist it feels like a lot of work for nothing.

“The Woman.” MPAA rating: R for strong bloody violence, torture, a rape, disturbing behavior, some graphic nudity and language. Running time: 1 hour, 43 minutes. At Laemmle’s Sunset 5, West Hollywood.