[Editorial] Ruth Daniels in Prevenge (2017)

We open to a shot of rolling waves beneath a cliff edge, the drop down beneath provoking a fear-filled gasp. A woman stands alone, re-playing a traumatic event in her memory. Ruth (short of course, for ruthless) is heavily pregnant, jobless and has recently lost her partner Matt, in a climbing accident.

We never see her at home, but instead watch her as she takes up residency in a hotel room. It becomes clear that there is something dark going on in Ruth’s mind when, during a train journey, she takes out a ‘Baby’s First Steps’ book which contains a rough sketch of her naked and pregnant, wielding a knife. 

Our suspicions around Ruth are raised even further when she visits a pet shop to look at exotic animals under the pretense of buying ‘something special’ for an eight-year-old son she doesn’t have. Looking at the caged creatures, all of whom have a reputation for being deadly, she is subject to various double entendres from the leering assistant such as ‘that’s my big fat slimy snake’ and ‘they come together’. Ruth’s position remains ambiguous as the assistant leads her to his ‘private collection’ where she is shown a pregnant spider which she reacts to with intrigue and disgust. ‘Is she dangerous?’ Ruth asks tentatively before launching unexpectedly towards him, slitting his throat. She plants a kiss on his forehead as he lies dying on the floor; this woman is, like the spider- seductive, unpredictable and deadly. 

One night, whilst staring at a photo of her deceased husband on her hotel room bed she hears her baby girls’ voice talking to her. While a parent would normally reassure their child, here the opposite takes place as the baby coos to Ruth ‘It’s ok. I’m here’. Thus, a pact is sealed, and Ruth launches into a murder spree. When approaching her victims, she often moves cautiously and carefully, like the spider in the pet shop which makes several appearances, brooding on the theme of motherhood. While Ruth often delivers sharp and biting observations about her prey, those in danger either don’t pick up on this or underestimate her because she is pregnant.

The violence and horror of Ruth’s killer rampage contrasts with the mundane and routine scenes of her attending prenatal appointments. ‘You have absolutely no control over your mind or body now, this one does’, Nurse Jennifer tells her. Rather than embrace this idea in the traditional mode of ‘mother earth’ Ruth takes a different view, retorting: ‘nature’s a bit of a cunt’.  The loneliness of Ruth’s experience echoes across the film through the numerous shots of the bustling city in which she is completely isolated and not once do we see her with a friend or a family member. Faced with navigating her way through the strange experience of pregnancy and dealing with the loss of her partner, Ruth has no outside support to help her during this challenging time. In one scene, she tells her midwife that she would swap the baby to have Matt back- going against the expectations society imposes on what mothers are supposed to feel but in expressing this, Ruth’s truthfulness gives voice to breaking a deep and long standing taboo. 

As the voice continues to guide her, Ruth’s killings start to become absurd until at one point she tells the baby how: ‘unnecessary it was to kill that man’, pointing towards a change of heart. Ruth does not limit her vengefulness to men and in one of the film’s most disturbing moments she is unsuccessful at a job interview from another woman because she is expecting a child. Advising the prospective candidate to: ‘get it out of your system this motherhood thing’ the interviewer is soon met with the wrath of a scorned Ruth. Walking through the streets with her arms lifted high in a state of empowerment, the baby chimes in quickly to remind her that this would not be possible without her and is therefore not Ruth’s victory to claim. 

When the baby is born, Ruth confesses to the midwife ‘I’ve done some really terrible things, I’ve got it all wrong’. We see her create a small shrine to her husband at the scene of the accident and assume that she is beginning to heal. However, maintaining her unpredictability right up until the final moment, Ruth lunges towards her final (and most significant) unsuspecting victim.  

Throughout the film, Ruth has multiple costume changes ranging from a glammed-up disco queen in a pink glittery top to a children’s charity worker in a hoodie and bobble hat. In adopting these various personas, actress, writer and director of the film, Alice Lowe, explores the issues pregnant women face concerning identity. From a tailored suit to a striking red dress, Ruth is struggling to maintain the many facets that make up who she is whilst also looking to claim a new identity that feels right. 

Constantly misunderstood, mistreated, rejected and at one point punched in the stomach, Ruth’s experiences demonstrate that society has some complicated and problematic views when it comes to pregnancy. While Ruth is a serial killer, she is also working through a life changing trauma and Lowe balances her potential villainess with human empathy, making it impossible not to identify with her.

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