[Film Review] Jagged Mind (2023)

TW: Discussion of Intimate Partner Violence

While there have been many depictions of abuse in heteronormative couples in film and literature, there are not as many depictions of intimate partner violence in queer relationships – and even fewer depictions of BIPOC individuals in these toxic relationships. In director Kelley Kali's new film Jagged Mind (2023), she deftly and elegantly tells the horrifying story of a Black woman fighting to get out of her abusive relationship with a female partner. 

Jagged Mind follows Billie (Maisie Richardson-Sellers), an art curator living and working in Miami's Little Haiti neighborhood. For Billie (and the audience), time is rewound and replayed over and over again as she struggles through terrifying blackouts, strange nightmares and mysterious nosebleeds. She is never quite sure what conversation she has just left or what conversation she's walking into.

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She keeps going back to her first date with her partner Alex (Shannon Woodward), a wealthy white woman who picks Billie up in a bar one evening, causing her to arrive late to an art show she helped put together. Billie and Alex quickly fall into a relationship. Watching their "romance" unfold isn't at all romantic for the audience; there are plenty of red flags and violent half-faded memories lingering on the edge of Billie's mind, and Alex's love bombing of Billie at the start of their courtship is alarming. 

Things quickly go from bad to worse as the relationship becomes a hazy nightmare for Billie, whose memory lapses are becoming more consistent and whose overall health seems to be failing the longer she is with Alex. At times, the relationship almost edges into Munchausen syndrome by proxy territory, as Alex seems to be the element in Billie's life making her health worse – and Alex relishes it and believes she is the only one who can properly "care" for Billie. Billie exhibits multiple symptoms of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) throughout the film, even as the trauma she is experiencing is hidden from her memory.

At the same time, Alex also uses the fact that Billie is anxious that she'll develop dementia as her mother did against her. Several times, she makes cutting comments questioning Billie's sanity and grasp over her own mind, further weakening Billie as she struggles to get out from under Alex's thumb. The gaslighting in Jagged Mind is difficult to watch, especially as the audience knows that Billie already has preexisting fears and low self-esteem. (During one of the very first scenes, she refers to herself as "damaged goods" while on the phone with her best friend.)

While most of the horror comes from the human element (Alex's emotional, verbal and physical abuse of Billie), there is also a supernatural element at play in Jagged Mind, which makes Alex's hold on Billie even more frightening. The horror of being stuck in a toxic relationship – is exacerbated by additional forces beyond Billie's control that keep her quite literally stuck in time, and stuck with Alex. 

Jagged Mind excels at showing the parallels between blackouts and abusive relationships. Just as one might lose touch with themselves during a blackout and struggle to understand their actions during a blackout, people experiencing intimate partner violence might feel as though they're losing parts of their own identity.

The use of color and imagery also provides this film with a surreal and dreamy/nightmarish feel, which pairs with Billie's immersion in the Miami arts world. The vibrant colors of Little Haiti, where much of the story takes place, pulse feverishly to up the tension as Billie searches for an explanation for what is happening to her mind (and body). The soundtrack, featuring eerie trip-hop and haunting love songs, also helps put viewers in Billie's mindset, as she moves through her world in a dreamy haze. 

Maisie Richardson-Sellers is fantastic in her role as Billie; she's strong yet vulnerable, and her effortless charm makes it even more compelling to watch her fight her way to gain control of her life again. As Alex, Shannon Woodward provides an icy contrast to Billie's warmth. The audience is let in on more of her evil machinations than Billie; it's easy to see how she manipulated Billie into a romantic relationship so swiftly. 

As a psychological horror film, Jagged Edge is hard to watch. But there are spots of hope that also make it an emotionally satisfying experience. As Billie grasps for answers, it is the women in her life that help her find herself again. With no biological family left, it is the other women (and queer women) in Billie's life who give her the key to unlocking what's hiding beneath the surface of her relationship with Alex.

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