Twice A Woman not Worth Watching Once

Twice a Woman (2009) follows the account of a French Canadian woman named Catherine, whose last name we are not given in the film, and her journey towards a new life with her son, Leo, after her husband’s physical and psychological abuse become more than intolerable. Along with the help of a network of female supporters and volunteers who endured the same types of grievances, Catherine gains not only the strength but also the resources needed to leave her rich and powerful husband and find her true purpose and meaning in life.

Catherine, who is later given the alias of Sophie Auclair, is first encouraged to leave her husband and marriage by a nurse, who gleans from the bruises on Catherine’s face that she has been beaten by her husband and did not fall down the stairs as Catherine suggests. After given a number for help, Catherine meets with Anne, leader of a secret network of women whose sole purpose is to help battered women like Catherine make smooth and safe transitions to new lives beyond their shattered ones.

Catherine and Leo’s sudden thrust into a new existence seems to disrupt their lives. Catherine cannot call her family to inform them of her whereabouts and/or condition; and Leo has an even more difficult time at his new school, encountering classmates that often bully him. It is not until Anne connects Catherine with a temporary job and Catherine begins to date a coworker when things become better; however, her husband finds her location and tells her that she still belongs to him. He insists that he take Leo back to live with him, but not before he beats up Catherine one last time.

From the film’s synopsis, one may realize that Twice a Woman is a banal theme found in many female-centered stories caught on film; from Enough starring Jennifer Lopez to the bevy of television movies on Lifetime, the film audience is fed an endless supply of a violent men/husbands attacking their innocent/docile wives, who discover that the only way for a better life is to pack up the bags, take the kid(s), and leave.

The only difference between Twice A Woman and its thematic contemporaries is that it is far less dramatic and entertaining. The plotline moves along from scene to scene, minute to minute, and line to line without any real “action” occurring. The movie addresses the issue of domestic violence and subsequent flight too mildly to be taken seriously.

For instance, the moment Catherine’s husband locates her whereabouts is anticlimactic to say the least. The audience expects an intense battle over their son, but instead gets a lackluster exchange that reveals how little Catherine has changed and how little independence and strength she has gained; the “reunion” scene between husband and wife serves no purpose in film as the husband physically overpowers Catherine, leaving her with new bruises and scars to remember him by in her new life.

On the other hand, the 94-minute production did attack an age-old societal construct: the fact that men have the power. The abusive husband in the film is a mirror image of the same abusive husband in society that performs an action (abusing wife), which leads the wife to react (leaving the house with her son before her husband returns home). In the beginning, Catherine is pessimistic and full of despair: “I know the weight of the dead…and I know the taste of blood.” Her husband’s violence is a push factor in Catherine taking their son Leo and running away.

Starting a new life as a working single parent forces the protagonist to maintain a warring, dualist personality: one as married Catherine and one as Sophie Auclair. Throughout the entire film, Sophie flees the violence that rigged Catherine’s everyday life while also wanting to return to the feeling of normalcy she always had with both her husband and child as a family. While the movie evokes a hidden message of redemption after struggle, it does so by implying that one must first defeat the internal battle going on between the new and former self.

Nature is used throughout the film as a safe haven and point of refuge for Catherine and Leo to turn to whenever they encounter adversity and/or struggle. Catherine retreats to the nearby forest when she needs clarity and relative peace of mind. Leo also finds security in the woods after he is bullied at school. Nature, as utilized in the film, can also be seen as a manifestation of peril and loss of direction. There is a scene in which Catherine simply wanders from one end of the forest to another, showing her loss of direction and need for more guidance.

Despite having a safe plot, Twice A Woman finds a way to disrupt an in-depth understanding of the characters and their inner thoughts. Besides a few lines of poor narration by Catherine, we get little insight into the feelings that motivate her actions. The same applies to Leo. We learn throughout the film that the boy enjoys filming on his video camera and even asks for help on a short film project at school. Leo then uses this footage, which includes that of his mom with a bruised face and her swimming in the nearby pool naked, to compile a video that he sends to his mom when he moves back with his father, but we never understand why he does this.

The film’s scene construction is also an impediment for character development. Every scene and course of dialogue ends with a long, gradual fade to black. Fading to black is a common aspect of movies, but every scene only lasts from 1-2 minutes and follows with a fade-to-black that feels longer than the entire scene itself. And by cutting scenes into short fragments with limited spoken dialogue, the audience cannot connect to the overall plotline let alone the motivations of the characters within it. I have never seen this technique used before in a movie and Twice A Woman is a strong case for why I have not.

When deciding to spend your invaluable time and energy to watch Twice A Woman, I encourage you to do what Catherine did after being abused by her husband—run. Run far, far away from this terrible film. The plot seems exciting and dramatic, but the movie is anything and everything but that. Twice A Woman should only be revisited to provide an example of what a great feature film presentation is not supposed to resemble.

Funfilm Distribution Inc. presents a film directed by Francois Delisle. Running time: 94 minutes.