Revenge is a concept that cinema has been interested in for the longest time – I recently spoke at length about the revenge thriller in my review for Lady Snowblood. These are normally films that have a bilateral purpose – they prove to be action-packed thrillers, as well as fascinating character pieces, and they continue to exist as one of Hollywood’s most reliable sub-genres in some form. It is also a concept that has persisted in both mainstream and arthouse films, and one of the more notorious ones is Abel Ferrara’s independent crime thriller, Ms. 45, a powerful independent drama that fits well within the confines of some of the great revenge thrillers – yet, while it certainly did have the appearance of being a great successor to some of the notable films of its ilk, it falls apart after a promising first act, and while I wanted to enjoy this film and did my very best to see it not as some poorly-produced revenge thriller that seemed to be an excuse for a gun-crazy rampage, it didn’t serve to be much more than that. Ms. 45 has certainly proven to be a polarizing film, and audiences have been divided on the film for decades – and personally, I am still divided on whether I enjoyed it or not. Regardless, it is doubtful that Ferrara, someone who doesn’t seem to strive for any sense of enjoyment in his films, would intend to create something entertaining – and if the purpose of Ms. 45 was to unsettle the audience, then he certainly achieved that. However, if he was aiming to make a good film, we can’t say that he was all that successful.

Ms. 45 has a story that is almost too simple to even describe – a young mute woman named Thana (Zoë Tamerlis Lund) is raped twice in one day, and it leaves her profoundly shaken, as it would for anyone. The first perpetrator manages to get away, but the second is not so lucky – in a moment of sheer willpower, Thana overpowers him and murders him in self-defence. Feeling the effects of her traumatic experience, she hides the body and eventually divides it into small pieces, disposing of it slowly as time goes on. Her trauma lingers with her, and she is soon on a quest to get revenge not only for herself but for every woman that has been wronged by a man – and this vigilante streak eventually turns into unhinged psychopathy, with her 45-calibre pistol coming into contact with nearly every man she encounters. Her mission for revenge results in the murder of countless men, guilty and innocent, who have the great misfortune of crossing paths with the notorious Ms. 45.

The main issue I had with Ms. 45 is that it is neither a great film nor a bad film – rather, its a film composed almost entirely out of merits and shortcomings, and the trouble is figuring out which are dominant. One element of the film that is unquestionably great is Lund’s performance. Without saying a single word throughout nearly the entire film, she gives a powerful performance as the mute woman who finds herself on the receiving end of harsh sexual violence, and takes it upon herself to not only get revenge on those who wronged her, but to do the same for her fellow woman, most of which have suffered some degree of abuse at the hands of the male gaze, whether physical, mental or emotional. A performance that could’ve found its home in the silent era, Lund conveys every intricate emotion through her expressive face and the physicality of her performance, bringing a character to life through means that would have otherwise been inconsequential had it not been for the distinctive quality that she is a mute. Ms. 45 is an interesting character study, but I can’t decide whether to almost complete ambiguity associated with this character is worthwhile – to have a character who is not given any background may be seen as either poor writing or genius development, depending on how you view the film. Ferrara has shown himself to be quite capable of nuanced, fascinating characters in his subsequent works, so it is doubtful that he would’ve made a film with a hollow character at the core. However, Lund’s performance was exceptional – with or without the involvement of further characterization – and the problem comes when we realize that her efforts in Ms. 45 were not utilized to their full capacity because while she was undeniably good, the film around her was not nearly as compelling.

Another aspect of this film that needs praise is the intention – it has a powerful theme, one that is as relevant today as it was during the making of the film. Ms. 45 concerns itself primarily with the position of women in society and shows their many anxieties at the hands of men, who are presented as being grotesque, villainous characters that just take advantage of women on a whim. In an area where women are finally taking an unimpeachable stand against the patriarchy, and challenging the heteronormative, phallocentric society, Ms. 45 is quite a poignant film. The first act is incredibly powerful, and you can be forgiven for thinking that it is going to turn into an entertaining but empowering action thriller, where we see a woman who was a victim of an awful sexual crime take matters into her own hands and wreak havoc on those that wronged her – it is exactly this kind of theme that made films like Lady Snowblood and Kill Bill so effective. This is a film that may not be the most enduring in the era of #MeToo, but it is certainly a fascinating representation of the effects of sexual violence, and Ferrara’s handling of the themes of post-traumatic stress disorder and the haunting nature of a harrowing event such as rape was quite admirable, and it can be forgiven for its flaws, because the intention does manage to compensate for the sometimes rough execution of the film.

Therefore, what’s holding Ms. 45 from being a great film? It has a powerful leading performance and potent underlying thematic content, so where could it possibly go wrong? The answer can be found in the final two acts of the film, which is precisely where Ferrara seems to lose control of this film, setting it off into unhinged anarchy, and far from the entertaining variety, making it almost catastrophically incoherent and deeply unpleasant. Mainly, the film has an impactful concept at the start – and it would appear it was pitched entirely on the introductory scenes, which are most certainly the strongest parts of the film. The rest of the film is far less successful and remains relatively plotless. The vast majority of Ms. 45 sees the titular anti-heroine going on a violent journey of revenge that turns into a killing spree. The problem isn’t that she is merely killing innocent men – it is that there is a complete lack of motivation, but the film isn’t clear about whether or not it is supposed to appear so vague. Are we supposed to empathize with her for killing these men, because she knows something the audience doesn’t? Or is her crime spree the effects of extreme PTSD and her only way of working through the trauma is through needless psychopathic murder? It isn’t ever made clear, and even if the resolution does answer this partially (which honestly felt like a rushed ending, intended to bring some sense of relief to an otherwise uncomfortable film). There doesn’t seem to be too much effort put into creating any logic throughout this film, and it essentially disappoints a very strong concept, and had it been a bit more focused on the underlying themes, as opposed to being intent on being violence for the sake of a social message which it just never honours.

Ms. 45 is a film that seems to want to be a shocking, violent testimony on the nature of sexual violence and trauma, and for that it is admirable – but most of the impact is lost with the execution of this story, which is often incomprehensible, and it seems like the film was operating without much of a plot, being a series of violent moments set to the backdrop of one woman’s descent into unhinged madness as a result of her own traumatic experience. This is a film that should be powerful and leave a lasting impact – unfortunately, it doesn’t. I am divided squarely on Ms. 45 – on one hand, it has an impressive leading performance from the exceptionally talented Zoë Tamerlis Lund, and it has a poignant social message that is still so unfortunately resonant to this day. On the other hand, it is often misguided, and it lacks a coherent plot, often choosing to be nothing but violence for the sake of violence, not getting into the mind of the character as much as we think it would. The film is not entirely bad – and Ferrara’s work here is quite impressive (the climactic scenes at the Halloween party were exceptional), and Ms. 45 is certainly a well-directed film. It is just an ill-conceived, often extremely unpleasant situation that takes a harrowing social situation and almost exploits it with a character whose sole reaction to her traumatic experience is to murder any man who comes her way, which is counter-productive in some ways. There is definitely a potent social message here, and for that reason alone, I do think Ms. 45 isn’t entirely forgettable, but it was not nearly as effective as the films that inspired it and putting aside the underlying themes, this is just not that great of a film, and it certainly could have been much better. I am disappointed because this had the potential to be something quite special, but I was left otherwise cold, and while it is a complex film, it just did not inspire anything other than dispirited apathy. Ms. 45 is an experience, just a harrowing, wholly unpleasant one, and taken for what it is, it does succeed, but only marginally, because there is only so much societal despair that we can bear before we see this as an excuse for reckless violence, and while the intention is admirable, the lack of coherency is unforgivable, and the important themes in Ms. 45 certainly deserved a better platform than this.