CR: Teeth

Teeth is the debut feature from filmmaker Michael Lichtenstien that gives a modern update to the ‘vagina dentate’ mythology – the cultural notion of a woman with teeth on her vagina. Also making her debut, as a lead actress in a feature film, is Jess Weixler who plays Dawn, the film’s protagonist who discovers her unique anatomical feature when she becomes the victim of sexual assault.

Though it contains some cringe-worthy scenes of gore, Teeth is more of a black comedy about a girl self-actualizing her sexuality and learning what makes her a unique, beautiful, and in this case, deadly, woman. Weixler plays Dawn to perfection – you fall in love with her in the beginning of the film, want to comfort her as her world is turned upside down, and ultimately side with her when she uses her sexuality as a weapon. Note I used ‘SEXUALITY’ and NOT ‘TOOTHED VAGINA’ in the previous sentence. The teeth inside Dawn’s vagina are not what make her dangerous. By the end of the film, when Dawn turns to the camera and reveals a heart-melting set of bedroom eyes, is her sex appeal that she learns to harness as a weapon.

Writer/Director Lichtenstien wrote a smart screenplay and directed an even smarter film. He does a great job of creating an over-sexed atmosphere, and the film is rife with imagery of the female body, mostly in nature, visually syncing the beauty of the natural world with the female form and filling the frame with multilayered meaning. The script excellently builds up from a basic concept and explores the possibilities. One of my favorite, and most thought provoking, scenes is a high school class lecture about genetic mutation and adaptive features. Dawn’s second set of teeth are a genetic mutation, an adaptive quality. When you consider this alongside the traditional ‘vagina dentata’ mythology, which is rooted in men’s fear of the female body. Fear leads to mistreatment and violence. Is Dawn the next evolution of woman? What if all women had teeth on their vagina? Would men respect women more emotionally and sexually?

This film is not some feminist revenge fantasy as no doubt some will make it out to be, this is not Kill Bill with a vagina instead of a sword. The film is thought provoking in terms of feminism. It is gruesome, and the scenes of sexual assault are treated with appropriate seriousness. And yes it is funny, but isn’t sex a subject that should be approached with a sense of humor?

Best thing I’ve seen at the Sundance so far.