Ruby (Alicia Prinsen) is a fifteen-year-old high school student, and she’s just gotten her period. She knows what to do–this isn’t the first time she’s experienced this, but her circumstances are different from others’. Due to the financial struggle that Ruby and her mother face each and every day, she doesn’t have the means to purchase any feminine hygiene products. While Ruby wants nothing more than for things to remain Spotless, that is looking less and less likely.
Spotless is graphic, and it’s difficult to swallow throughout its entirety. While that may be troublesome for some viewers, that’s the film’s intention. Writer-Director Emma Branderhorst and Writer Milou Rohde create a series of scenarios that challenge viewers, that force them to deal with the harsh realities that some underprivileged women must deal with far too often.
Initially viewers find themselves in Ruby’s bedroom, and they can see that she’s struggling to deal with her period, that alone is uncomfortable, especially for male audiences. But I don’t even want to get into the struggles she faces finding hygiene products–the first step into uncomfortability is seeing this teenage girl struggle at all. So much goes into creating this tone, more than may initially appear to viewers. Prinsen is the reason that these moments resonate with viewers, as she’s brilliant throughout. Spotless isn’t just representative of the film’s narrative, but of Prinsen’s performance as well. She’s powerful and honest, and, working with high school kids each and every day, she perfectly represents what I see all the time. She’s a bit cranky, but she’s strong-willed; she’s passionate but reserved. Prinsen embodies each and every one of these things incredibly well. With all of that, seeing her perform so well allows the intensity and the uncomfortability to remain right at the surface throughout.
Beyond this aspect of the film, the narrative itself–the struggles of dealing with feminine hygiene, and all that comes with it, is by far the most intense part of the film. Viewers are able to feel her pain, but the physical representation is something entirely different. Branderhorst, Rohde, and Director of Photography Myrthe Mosterman have to be able to capture the aesthetic reality that exists in regard to the situations depicted in Spotless, and they never miss a beat.
One way of appealing to viewers and convincing them that your message is just and warranted is by scaring them or making them uncomfortable–allowing them to understand that change is necessary. That’s exactly what happens here in Spotless. From the opening moments, the things that viewers see and hear frighten them, disgust them–and the message that everyone part of this film is attempting to convey is fully understood. While the message is the most important part of the entire film, this is also a well-made film. It’s accessible, it’s honest, and every piece of information that this team constructs is well done.
Directed by Emma Branderhorst.
Written by Emma Branderhorst & Milou Rohde.
Starring Alicia Prinsen, Astrid Van Eck, Thomas Höppener, Ilva Los, etc.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐½/10
