![]() ![]() Even then, they’re playing parts, and the joy of their dynamic and relationship is seeing these layers of performativity fade away as the women simply become themselves in each other’s company. The film flirts with this a lot when they first meet the stark differences between them in an elevator, the comically pornographic conceit that leads to their sleeping together, with Corky the plumber and Vi the dissatisfied housewife. ![]() On the surface, Bound is all about the butch/femme dichotomy that exists between Corky and Vi, but the more the film goes on, the more the layers of the two women are revealed-the old wounds that make Corky so defensive, Vi’s canny rebelliousness-neither of these women are what they appear to be at first glance. In an early scene with Corky after they first sleep together, she insists that even though Corky can hear her and Caesar through the thin walls, that it isn’t sex, but “work,” a choice she’s made in order to survive. The film explores these ideas most explicitly through Jennifer Tilly’s performance as Violet-so much of the film hinges on her desire to “get out” of life as mobster’s girlfriend-all of it femme affectation the pitch of her voice, the softness she puts on whenever she talks to Caesar (Joe Pantoliano), all of it carefully calibrated to make her seem as non-threatening and submissive as possible. This idea of being tied up moves beyond the physical in Bound: it’s the way in which Corky and Violet (the always iconic Jennifer Tilly) challenge these ideas of being tied down as one thing, subverting the expectations of gender, that is the key to their liberation. Gina Gershon’s Corky is tied up in a closet, replaying the voices that got in her head. The opening image of Bound – the Wachowski sisters’ debut film a visceral, aggressively queer Neo-noir – is a perfect introduction to the action that follows.
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