Originally published: August 3, 2021

Medusa opens in LA and NYC on July 29, 2022.

With Medusa, writer/director, Anita Rocha da Silveira has created an important film that takes everyday life and subverts it into a horror story, because the truth is more frightening than anything we can dream up. Blithely disregarding the dearth of South American women helming film, da Silveira is fearlessly creating a footprint in the horror genre with a unique combination of heightened reality and social commentary. The Brazilian sublimated her natural instincts as an outgoing child to blend in, during her high school years.

It was the death of a close friend and the challenge of a University teacher to create a script, that led her to find her voice again, and begin speaking for those pressured to conform, be silent and suppressed. Watching Medusa one can see the influence of Darren Aronofsky’s Mother, Luca Guadagnino’s Suspiria, David Lynch’s Mulholland Dr. and Jordan Peele’s Get Out. Social commentary in a parallel universe that incorporates humor; hyper-realism that mixes genres while also embodying romance, comedy, horror.

“It looks like real life but then things fall apart, and you end in a parallel universe,” said the Rio de Janeiro native who has found success at film festivals often using the prize money to reinvest in her next project. Medusa has a cool 70s/80s-inspired soundtrack to which da Silveira also contributed. All the songs are by women. The film competed at Cannes and TIFF.

What prompted you to write the story?

I read several stories over a few months about girls getting together to beat up another girl because they considered the girl promiscuous. It had a lot to do with social media – the photos she was posting that prompted ‘likes’. When these girls got together it was important to them to get the other girl to look ugly – like to cut their face or hair. It reminded me of the Medusa Myth. Medusa was very pretty. In one version she was raped or had sex with Poseidon and because she wasn’t ‘pure’, she was transformed into a horrible creature. Although this is a myth from centuries ago, we still have this energy where women seek to control other women. It’s how the Machismo of society is also impregnated by women. I wanted to talk about the idea of control. Growing up we have to control the way we look, our sexuality, the tone of our voice. We have to control ourselves so much and if we don’t, we are considered hysterical, crazy. The theme is about control and the lack of control. I wanted to write a script about a woman different from me, who had grown up in an ultra-conservative environment. I’m passionate about mixing different genres. Medusa is a horror film but also a musical with comedy elements. You put that together and that’s how Medusa started.

You focus on women-on-women violence; talk about conformity and violence towards nonconformers.

It was hard for me to film woman on woman violence but since I read those articles, I wanted to talk about how machismo has infiltrated us. For me, violence is also about women who have to control every aspect of their lives. They have to control themselves so much they think they have to control those around them too. This allows them to feel like they have some control over themselves. When I directed the girls, I wanted them to be aware of hyper-acting and seeming contrived. These girls are always thinking about how they are moving and being perceived. They have an internal dialogue: Is my arm ok? Is my hair okay? At some point, they start to lose control of controlling everything and that’s a good thing. They start to feel alive. They can’t control everything. That’s my happy ending.

There is a wonderful scene of the echo chamber, which reflects the reality of Twitter and social media where there is a mindless repetition – it was very impactful.

It reminded me of sentences the far right says to create a sense of panic. In Brazil for the general elections there is so much misinformation on social networks and WhatsApp groups, so people get paranoid about things that aren’t real. These groups fill themselves with a fear that is unreal, for example: ‘They’ are communists. ‘They will assault me.’ Sometimes there is repetition without an understanding of content. They are impregnated with fear. The scene is when they repeat and there’s no way forward. The girls realize they will break, or they will scream. The scream for me is this thing they keep inside – not only about themselves but the collective of women from other generations. It’s also about Medusa. Looking at the painting of Caravaggio’s Medusa, and others, she is fierce, but not because she is afraid, because she is angry. These women get in touch with their anger and they have to break free of the silence they have been keeping inside for so many years.

What are the challenges you face as a woman director?

It’s never easy. With my short film, not only did I get money prizes, but it put me in touch with people who helped me with my first film, and it’s how I met my producer. She was on the jury. I am working with the same crew. It’s important to have people who stand by you, friends who will be there for you. My first feature was the first feature for them too. To have your crew, or group and help each other. Cinema is something you don’t do alone. You have to have your gang. Take time to develop the script and have another job to pay the rent. I work as a scriptwriter for other people – television shows, and a director on television shows. Getting to know a producer and my group that I work with was very important.

Let’s talk about women’s libidos: we are not supposed to have them, and you explore how women’s sexuality is controlled and seen as this dangerous thing.

It’s a theme that isn’t explored in cinema – women’s sexuality. I grew up in the 80s and 90s and there was so much about men’s first time and their sexuality, and the women are almost dolls to serve them. In my first feature and now my second too, it’s important to show a woman discovering her body, another’s body, discovering herself, and desiring because it was something I didn’t see so much while also having subjective characters – I think that’s missing – and somebody needs to do it, so I’m happy to. Now there are more films exploring women discovering their bodies with subjectivity, but when I grew up it wasn’t something I was used to watching in films. 

Your women are very uninhibited in how they are, how they move.

Every woman will recall being told, you have to sit like this, you have to speak softly, you have to smile. If a man doesn’t smile it’s ok, but a woman that doesn’t is considered a bitch. There are these expectations about how you should behave and how you should sit. It was important to show this controlled dancing and then you see them getting in touch with their bodies and movement, that’s part of the character transformation.

This contrasts with the more regimented way the men behave.

The idea of army and unity and the bond between men. They have a group. The girlfriend is almost like something they have to do because they have to procreate and have to marry. The men have a unity and bond that they only find amongst other men. One of the characters is in an abusive relationship with her boyfriend. The ultra-right may view women only for sex, not for conversation. It was intentional to show that bond.

Karl Marx said religion is the opium of the people. In many places in the world, women’s rights are suppressed through religion. Is that a theme you were exploring?

I have no desire to criticize religion but there are some branches in the evangelical sectors where the minister interprets the bible however they want. In Brazil, they give support that the state and other churches don’t provide, not even the Catholic church. They offer a sense of community. They meet almost every day and have sewing, choir, youth groups – help people get jobs and offer day-long activities. If you think of a huge country like Brazil where people move to get a job. They arrive in the city and are lonely, these churches provide a community and support that no one else provides. There is a sentence I include that is often said: Don’t trust in those who are not from the church, don’t trust the news. Don’t trust others. So, there’s a sense of family and getting out is difficult.

Do you listen to a lot of people’s advice?

I have heard a lot of bad advice! When I did my first film a very important critic from Brazil said ‘women’s sexuality is not a good theme. If you want to work in the cinema you need to showcase something different.’ My advice is to stay with what you believe, stay true to what you like doing. The advice was mainly from men: ‘You can’t shoot like that. You can’t have this here. People will not like it.’  Sometimes you have to say, “No. That’s bad advice.” Think twice before you listen to other’s advice.