Damsel Review

Damsel is an indie Western that gives the genre a feminist twist.

Samuel Alabaster (Robert Pattinson) arrives on American Frontier with the intent to propose and marry his sweetheart, Penelope (Mia Wasikowska). Samuel hires the local priest, Parson Henry (David Zellner) to travel into the wilderness to surprise Penelope. But Samuel reveals that Penelope had actually been kidnapped and the two were going on a rescue mission.

The word Damsel was used in irony because the filmmakers wanted to subvert the damsel in distress trope. The story was about a man going off to rescue a woman: but Penelope was a woman who didn’t need saving. All the men she comes across tries to rescue her despite the fact Penelope was usually in control.

This idea of men trying to save Penelope leads to another theme of the film: toxic masculinity. The filmmakers were trying to give Damsel a modern theme. When Samuel tells Henry about his romance, he makes it sound like a story of true love, and his gift of a miniature horse was a symbol of his love. His rescue attempt was meant to be a chivalric act. But the reality was different. Samuel was projecting what he wanted the relationship to be: Penelope told a story about Samuel being an obsessed stalker who tried to force his ideals on the woman. He sees himself as a hero when reality he was a villain.

Robert Pattinson was most for his role in the Twilight saga and he was a heartthrob. Since Twilight Pattinson has been focusing on making indie films and he plays against type in Damsel. Pattinson was both a dippy romantic and a creep. Wasikowska’s Penelope had an Amy Santiago quality because every man she meets falls for her.

As well as being a revisionist western, Damsel also aimed to be a comedy. The first scene of the film showing a man having a mental breakdown and Samuel was introduced to the audience by letting out his mini horse. The Zellner Brothers were clearly going for a dark, quirky approach similar to the Coen Brothers. An example of this was when Samuel and Henry leave town and a character called Barrel of Laughs was about to be hung. The problem with these attempts at humour was not that funny. There were the odd moments that raised a smile like one character being forced to wear a vest made of dynamite but that’s it.

Damsel is a minor offering in the Western genre and Pattinson and Wasikowska’s filmographies.