Page 89 - Alternative Europe Eurotrash and Exploitation Cinema Since 1945

FIGURE 11 The voyeuristic look at the female body in S.

In a clever way, this turns the film into a critique of a society that has tried to ignore its connection
to abject bodies. S. explains that when the social order, to which every deviant body is subordinate,
becomes corrupt, everyone's particular identity, and the identity of a culture in general, are in danger,
unless the abject body revolts. S. explains how the cultural acknowledgement of the imperfect body,
stressing differences instead of similarities, becomes a way out of the impasse Belgian society found
itself in after the Affaire Dutroux.
The Affaire had placed imperfect bodies, children's bodies, violated and abused bodies, bodies of
maniacs (many newspapers focused on the physical features of Marc Dutroux) and bodies in distress
at the forefront of Belgian culture. By addressing the ability of such bodies to resist and revolt against
a corrupt social order, S. offered a much better way of coping with the aftermath of the Affaire than
any other explanation. The battered body of S. then becomes a metaphor for the shock Belgian culture
went through after the Affaire. In order to play that metaphorical role, the cultural context of S. is
essential. The film was consciously developed in an era in which Belgian society saw its own order
crumble, and it capitalises on a then omnipresent sensitivity for the human body in crisis. Around
the Affaire dozens of smaller stories and news facts circulated around the concept of the abject,
degraded and violated body. These included features on sects with bizarre rituals, sexual harassment

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