[Film Review] Swallow (2019)

Aside from giving us a good scare with a masked killer or a haunted entity, horror movies are the perfect medium for magnifying real-world scenarios and showing us just how scary life can be. And that’s exactly what Swallow (2019) does.

On the face of it, Swallow is a story about a newly-wed couple moving into a new home and finding out they are expecting a baby. But on a deeper level, Swallow deals with isolation, a lack of control, and the traditional roles which women find themselves forced into.

The story starts with a young couple, Hunter (Hayley Bennett) and her husband Richie (Austin Stowell), as they move into their new house. Richie’s parents have gifted the pair the house and Richie has just been made MD of his father’s company. And yet, Hunter is not content in her life, possibly because it is not quite her own. Hunter comes from a less affluent background, with Richie’s mother, Katherine (Elizabeth Marvel), laughing when she hears Hunter used to work in retail. ‘What did you do for money before you met my son?’ she asks Hunter, showing both the audience and Hunter how grateful Richie’s family think Hunter should be for simply being allowed to exist inside their world. 

Soon after the film starts, Hunter finds out she is pregnant. Before the audience or Hunter herself has had the chance to digest this news, Richie is on the phone with his parents, delightedly claiming ‘We’re pregnant!’, while Hunter sits shell-shocked on the couch. Richie's parents are very much the intruders in Hunter and Richie’s marriage, with them often getting more of a say on issues than Hunter does. And with the addition of a baby to the equation, Hunter finds herself knocked even further down the food chain.

At a family dinner, Richie’s father, Michael (David Rasche), is interested in the future new CEO of the company, but rudely talks over Hunter when she tries to tell a story. It’s here that we see Hunter first develop her compulsion for eating things she shouldn’t, even though she starts off easy by dining on a simple ice cube as Richie and his father talk shop. While it’s nowhere near the levels of extreme Hunter reaches, it’s the first small act of rebellion she takes against her life with Richie and his family. Rather than sitting quietly while the men talk about work after silencing her, she loudly crunches the ice in the middle of the posh restaurant, eventually drawing stares from her dining companions. 

Hunter’s next move is a marble, which she consumes after a particularly tense run-in with her mother-in-law. After swallowing the marble, it’s the first time we see Hunter look happy and relaxed. Hunter is struggling to maintain control of her life. She finds herself sucked into this life which has been designed for her, without any consideration for her own needs or desires. The best hope she has of making choices which her husband approves of is picking curtains for the house or being allowed to plant flowers in the back garden. Swallowing that marble is a decision that Hunter makes entirely for herself, it only affects her, and she doesn’t need to involve anyone else in the decision-making process. 

It’s this release and joy that Harper feels which leads to her consuming stranger and more dangerous items, such as batteries, drawing pins, and pages of her book. However, a baby scan reveals the strange contents of her stomach to Richie, and Hunter’s secret is no longer her own. In fact, it makes things more difficult for her to even exist as Richie and his family start to close the net around her. Their behaviour becomes more controlling, and while they claim it is for Hunter’s benefit, the only real consideration is for her baby. And even then, this consideration for the baby is more out of seeing it as a commodity and positive addition to the family lineage rather than the expected love that would come for a new grandchild. 

Swallow does a fantastic job at focusing the story very much on Hunter and her struggles and not focusing too much on the baby, as all the surrounding characters seem to do. While there are fleeting scenes of Hunter decorating the nursery or staring at her stomach in the mirror, we feel Hunter’s indifference to her pregnancy through the lack of focus on her future child. When another character congratulates her on her unborn child, she questions why they are congratulating her. The only time the baby is at the front of Hunter’s mind is when she recognises the futility of her situation. She knows this baby is the final nail in her coffin and the last thing which will secure her to a future she’s not sure if she wants.

Hayley Bennett’s portrayal of Hunter is a force to be reckoned with. We recognise that Hunter knows she should be grateful for this amazing life that has been handed to her, and yet she is wary of the corner she is being backed into by Richie’s family. The way Richie’s family uses this grateful angle to keep her on a short leash is terrifying, and we see the desperation in Hunter through Hayey’s amazing performance. Seeing her shove these things in her mouth just to reclaim some order and control in her life as more and more of it is stripped away from her makes complete sense, as does the calm that resides over Hunter once she fulfils her compulsion. 

Swallow is a beautiful and heart-breaking depiction of how getting the picture-perfect life you always dreamed of isn’t necessarily the answer to all your problems. It’s a story of how important it is to reclaim your life and be a bit selfish when it comes to considering your own needs above others, and how many women desperately need to cling to their autonomy after they become pregnant.

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