The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo MOVIE EDITION

*SPOILER WARNING* *TRIGGER WARNING*
I’ve been on a bit of a winning streak lately and I won tickets to see a preview session of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I was really excited as I read the book and quite enjoyed it. I know the book has been debated particularly around the intent of the graphic violence in the book. I thought I’d write my thoughts on the movie and I’d love to hear what you thought about the movie too!
The violence on the screen wasn’t glamorous, funny or entertaining. It was gritty, confronting and disturbing. I felt really uncomfortable watching it – so much so that I looked away. I noticed that other patrons were doing the same thing. It was a different feeling from seeing a movie where killing, rape or other violence is funny or entertaining. I didn’t feel unsafe watching it, it was just a very different representation of violence to what we normally see in mainstream movies. I felt that the characters in the movie and the movie itself were saying that violence against women is not acceptable, rather than standing by with indifferent tolerance as we often see in movies.

One part that I didn’t like though was when Lisbeth was getting back at her Guardian she used an anal dildo to rape him. I don’t remember that being in the book and its addition didn’t sit too well with me. To put it in context, the fact that she was brutally raped by him in the first place made me extremely angry and disgusted. I’ve heard that there is going to be an American remake of this movie. I’ll be interested to see if the Hollywood treatment changes some of the themes about violence in the book and this movie.
I don’t think this movie passes the Bechdel test either. It has two women in the movie but I was desperately racking my brain trying to think of examples of two women talking and talking to each other about something other than men. I don’t think this really happens in the movie. It’s implied that Harriet and Anita talk about her escaping her abusive brother. Lisbeth talks to her mother (briefly) about her abusive father. In the books from what I can remember I think women talk to each a little bit more (like about Millenium’s direction, Miriam and Lisbeth etc.) but I don’t think it’s all that common. Correct me if I’m wrong, I read the book quite a while ago.
I was a bit disappointed with the original material in a way as the potential for women to be central, connected players in the novel was there. There are some strong female figures in this movie, but they don’t seem to meet or only briefly talk to each other. There are some awesome moments in the movie though. For example, Harriet and her cousin figure a way for her to leave a terrible situation safely. Also, Lisbeth is the heroine of the movie! She figures out the clues and eventually the mystery, saves Mikael from being murdered and chases the bad guy while Mikael is incapacitated. Lisbeth is quite a strong character; she also initiates sex with Mikael and tries (she wasn’t in a very powerful position – but that changes) to stand up to her guardian when they first meet in his office about him taking control of her money and asking about her sexual experiences.
Overall I enjoyed the movie, it stayed quite true to the book in terms of plot points, but the subtle relationships were missed. I’m looking forward to seeing how the second book translates to the movie and I recall that a few more female characters, a researcher (she gets to talk about more than men), a police officer, and maybe some others(??) are added to the mix!
So they’re my thoughts, anything to add?