Venus Noire by Tunisian director Abdellatif Kechiche takes viewers back to 19th century France and England. This is a new theater in which a renaissance of scientific discovery is filling academia with the knowledge of peoples of all races. While this new science appeals to the wealthy white elite, the reality is that these findings are simply Social Darwinism disguised as a valid and methodical conclusion. Saartjie, the “Hottentot Venus”, is the example that the French naturalist Georges Cuvier presents to his audience. But only as the film progresses does the story behind the capture of Hottentot Venus begin to take shape. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay We are transported five years before Cuvier's lecture in Paris to a circus in London. A main attraction is that Saartjie acts like a primitive fool and then engages the audience by letting them touch her buttocks as the show draws to a close. He cannot bear this emotional abuse caused by Caezar's show much longer, and some government officials have begun to wonder whether this show was slavery in disguise. However, Saartjie denies all allegations against Caezar out of fear of his future without his financial support. However, before the situation becomes too risky, Caezar exchanges money with Reaux, a suspected bear tamer, for Saartjie's employment. But before Saartjie has a chance to think about her future, she's already performing the same degrading shows, only this time in French salons with Reaux. She begins to rebel and is then used as a prostitute who eventually falls victim to a fatal venereal disease. Saartjie is then sold to French scientists who portion out and preserve parts of her body, while the shape of her body is preserved in a plaster model. From there, we come full circle as we approach the Georges Cuvier lecture scene we saw earlier in the film, this time more familiar with the struggle to procure such a beautiful specimen. However, Venus Noire retains a certain degree of humor. morbid, among these painful routines that Saartjie endures. For example, Caezar lives up to his name through his tyrannical treatment of Saartjie. His maneuvers to maintain control over her are the embodiment of the attempts of European nations to struggle to colonize Africa to gain the upper hand in the status quo. In a later show strangely reminiscent of Orwell's Brave New World, Reaux invites the audience in the French salon to touch Saartjie's genitals, giving a one-sided sense of "everyone [belonging] to everyone." Since her start on tour as an actress, the masses consume her artistry; as an academic model, French intellectuals learn from Saartjie's physical characteristics, turning them into rationalizations for racial hierarchy dialogues. Overall, this emphasis on Saartjie's raunchy consumption from start to finish isn't simply devouring material that just needs to be spit out. Instead, this overindulgence is evidence of a cycle of consumer items being digested and then degraded at each stage. Venus Noire pushes its viewers to the periphery, giving us a new perspective on the story. As an audience, we are therefore forced to watch every scene from the sidelines. In the scenes set in London, this effectively makes us spectators of the show which presents Saartjie as a creature tamed by Caezar; in Paris we also become part of the French salon that participates in the desecration of Saartjie's genitals; In the end,we watch in horror as Saartjie is reduced to a career in the world's oldest profession and dies for lack of effective medical care. At this point, we are exhausted and numbed by these traumatizing images. However, Saartjie's body is not put to rest. It is instead preserved for scientific investigation. Using these scenes, Kechiche forcefully exerts his direction on Venus Noire, leaving viewers mentally imprinted, perhaps even wounded. Through such scenes, Kechiche divides Saartjie's character into four parts: her career in London, then Paris, her descent into prostitution, and finally her position of scientific curiosity. With the number of disasters and abuse Saartjie has to endure, Kechiche makes her one-sidedness very clear to viewers: this is truly how life could be made ugly; being a passive spectator is not, nor should it be, a comfortable option. While Kechiche takes no prisoners, it would be hard to argue that Venus Noire doesn't explicitly and effectively portray a case study in the twisted history behind European colonialism. Nonetheless, the direction Kechiche takes with Venus Noire is not above scrutiny at all. For one thing, the film's running time is excessive. After nearly three hours of viewing, the film drags on, turning into a grueling marathon that melts the audience's patience. However, the ways in which Kechiche guided us through part of Saartjie's life story were not exhaustive. Variety Reviews raises an interesting point about Venus Noire that puts the English in a more favorable light than the French, making it seem like British law was trying to protect Saartjie and the French who abused her. This is unfair, given that the British were no less guilty of the concept of colonialism. One of the curious aspects of Saartjie was his near silence. Although she is an unorthodox protagonist, Saartjie's role as a quiet character positions her as more passive, perhaps helpless. This leaves the audience with much less, if any, insight into the inner workings of Saartjie's decision-making and emotions. While such situations are realistic, this distanced relationship between the character and his audience consequently leaves viewers without the satisfaction of a concrete moral reward to remember after the film ends. In defense of her character, Yahima Torres, the actress who plays Saartjie, countered that her character is very often found in an environment where she cannot speak Afrikaans. Torres added that Saartjie may find solitude in his silence. Unfortunately, this argument fails. During her time with Caezar, Saartjie is just the talkative individual who Torres supports when she is pushed beyond her emotional limits. Otherwise, even in an Afrikaans-friendly environment, he remains silent most of the time. Reflecting on Saartjie's suffering in London and Paris, a troubling part of telling her story is the total lack of background before she even arrives in Europe. Even though Venus Noire shows that Saartjie often has no control over where she performs, Kechiche completely neglected to tell the public what conditions forced her to go to Europe. This is disconcerting because Venus Noire already portrays Saartjie as a downtrodden character with little opportunity to express his emotions and thoughts. Thus, this unknown exacerbates the dissonance of Saartjie's role as the film's protagonist. This is a jarring position for two reasons: it challenges the conventions of stories that require steadfast protagonists and, for the previous reason, it further puts viewers in the position of following the story of an increasingly dark stranger. Please note: this is just an example..