The Movie "Enough" by Michael Apted and My Own Point of View About Feminism

The belief that “men and women should have equal rights and opportunities is pure feminist. This movement is based on the desire to become a better version, is more as a fight for freedom and to belong somewhere.

A structuralist view suggests that every piece is an important part of a big one. This theory helps us to discover the bundle between what we have in front of us, a small detail that is in fact a “clue” towards something more interesting.

Psychoanalysis is yelling that everything that we do or what we will do has an explanation. Maybe we do not know or it does not sound important but even when we breathe we have a good an unconscious reason, for sure.

The movie that I chose is about how to fail in marriage but to succeed in finding yourself and beyond this. The movie is full of clichés but this is structuralism’s fault a little bit. It is structured like a novel with something that is looks like chapters or kind of. The first one is named “Hi” when is presented the actress, Jenifer Lopez, an orphan, a waitress with dreams and hope but no money. “How they meet” is kind a fairytale, a boy, not really the worst one in this story try to flirts with Slim (Jenifer’s name) she is not really interested but he gives her a red rose, the first cliché, red roses meaning love in all the movies but in my opinion it’s just “I don’t know another flower”. Finally, from the dark will appear Prince-Charming who saves Slim, saying about the bet between Robbie and his friend, they bet 200$ for a night spent with Slim. Like in every fairytale, the prince and the poor girl are getting married, we have the same story here. They have a big and fancy wedding and he will show her that he is a “victorious hero” buying the house of her dream and paying plenty money for it. Even the owner of the house said to him that he is crazy and he will show the bad view of this word.

Considering the psychoanalysis, buying that house is kind of a price paid for Slim as a woman, as that house, she is his property too and in this situation the feminism will be wake up…but later. “Our happy family” presents us the moments when their baby girl is born, he is a careful father and everything seems to be perfect, because every love story is perfect and amazing, ideal and everybody at a moment want to be a part of it. But from this point starts the real action. Living in a beautiful house with a rich husband, Slim is more like an employed who does all the chores not a woman and even not a respected wife. The problems of her marriage are revealed and she found out about the other woman, Darcelle, the lover of her husband. She has a crisis but he assure her that it was just a mistake and she is the most important for him, briefly he lies. In “More than enough” we can see the real behavior of Mitch and the sparks of feminism in Slim. She feels Darcelle’s perfume all over her husband and has a crisis again, a crisis stopped with a strike from him. “But I am a man” this is his excuse and more than this even “Men and women have different needs”, from a psychoanalytical view this man thinks that he own everything even his wife. Maybe the explanation for this behavior can be found in his childhood, being rich if he wanted something it was easy to obtain and even now he thinks that he can do whatever he wants because he simply can. After this he has his own kind of sorry “I make the money I set the rules, my rules” now the Slim’s place is decided. She tries to escape because she can no longer live a life with a man like him. She makes a plan with her friends to take their daughter and to go away. She tries to hide but he left her without money, so she goes to Seattle to stay with an old friend, her ex-boyfriend, Joe. Here it appears the narrative pattern from structuralism, the antithesis between the bad boy and the good one. Mitch finds them because he has many relations and he paid people to bring Slim and their daughter back. But here, the feminist Slim is clever and she starts her journey trying to hide from him. She asks her father, Jupiter an influent man to help her but he does not care at first but after this, when Mitch send his people to threaten him, Jupiter becomes curious and ready to help Slim with money. She moves to Michigan, changed her look and also her name to Erin, these shows a challenge for her to find a way to solve the problem through duality. The shock, If I can say it is the scene with Mitch and Robbie, the man who tries to flirt with her for his bet, talking and trying a way to find Slim. So, they were friends and it is clearly that they bet for Slim, this thing reveals that Mitch is the villain in this story and also a liar and a player. The inner conflict is burning inside Slim, because she knows how was her life without father, not easier at all and now as a mother she is aware that her daughter will feel this loss too. Here the psychoanalysis is activated because she is between the desire for her daughter to have a father but also her fear to be an abused wife again a more than this because she knows that Mitch can be a danger even for Gracie. The husband finds out where they hide and come, but like in every movie she is ready to live again and to hide. They have a fight and after this she takes the girl and rides fast finding a way to escape again. Here we have many clichés because she has prepared another car with all the stuff in and a red wig to change her look to not be recognized.

But finally, the feminist inside here comes out and she realizes that she cannot hide anymore and she has to fight for her rights and for freedom. She has a feminist monologue in the car, it is dedicated to her daughter, about life and love. But everything is changed when she decides to learn how to fight. From an innocent woman, she will become a strong one and “ready for impossible”. When she is ready to fight, she starts her plan and uses the reverse psychology with her husband. While he is at work she finds out all his weapons in the house and throw them out preparing everything for her revenge. When he arrives, she tries to play with his mind turning off the light and speaking with him through the dark. She appears and he is surprised to see her stronger so they start fighting. Even he is down she cannot find the power to kill and like in all the movies he hits her with a lamp. This is the moment when she is down remembering all the bad things that happened and the words of her best friend “You have a divine animal right to protect your own life” and magical she finds her power to fight again till he is dead. The police are coming, it was self-defense and as a sign that everything is over she throws the bag with her outfit in the river. Psychoanalytical speaking this can be her way to say that she will forget the past because a new beginning starts and also a new life. After the problem with Mitch is solved she comes back to her friend, Joe starting a new love story, in a new city. And for sure we have a happy end and just one dead.

In this movie, the structuralist perspective follow the Slim’s journey, a personal growth from innocence to an experienced woman. “It maintains the structuralism’s features following the narrative theory. First of all, the binary opposite between Slim, a poor girl and Mitch the rich man, another opposite relationship between the bad guy, Mitch and the good guy, Joe who represents the escape for Slim. The action that follows a typical way, equilibrium - disequilibrium and new equilibrium, finding the order in chaos”. The entire movie presents a fight for love, conquering with the villain for peace and well-being.

Through psychoanalytic view the actors have explanations for their behavior in their past. Mitch because is rich thinks that everything can be bought with money. He usual had everything from his parents and even married he considered Slim his property. The fact that he is violent with his wife can show fear and inferiority, a violence behavior being his only way to win more power, and maybe this is what he saw between his parents.

Slim accepted his infidelity firstly because she was a child without father and she wanted for her daughter a better life with both parents. Even if she loves her husband she knows that everything depends on her choice to save her and Gracie because he is a real danger for both. The inner conflict helps her to become powerful and more visible in Mitch’s eyes and also to prove her independence.

We know that “Feminism even if it starts with f-e-m from female is not just about them it is about being free not subordinate to husband or anybody else, feminism is against patriarchal gender norms as a limit for women’s rights” (Handout 4, feminism). Slim is discriminated by her husband and in his opinion she has to be subordinate to him because he is the one who makes the money. This idea is against feminism theory and Slim acts also against her husband. Through her fight, she tries to rediscover her as a woman, a human being, an independent person with rights and feelings who can decide for herself and for her daughter as a mother.