Bound

by Anna Pulley

Bound (written and directed by the Wachowski brothers, 1996)
 
Mainstream and independent films are rife with images of lesbians as criminals and deviants. From zombies to vampire kick boxers to the somewhat more conventional bank robbers, lesbians on film are finally beginning to experience their share of ass kicking roles and not solely being portrayed on the receiving end of violence, abuse or deviant pathologies. Bound is one such film that chronicles two very different dykes who outsmart the mafia, walk away with two million dollars AND fall in love to boot.

Corky (Gina Gershon), despite her Little Rascals-esque moniker, is a shrewd, neo-noir butch, who knows her way around a bedroom and a drill press. Recently out of the slammer for theft, Corky sports wife-beaters and labrys tattoos, drives a ‘63 Chevy truck and is easily seduced by mob wife and femme de la femme Violet (Jennifer Tilly). In the first few scenes, Tilly comes across as simpering and flighty, and some of her attempts at seducing Corky are downright laughable: “I have a tattoo on my breast. Would you like to touch it?” (indirect quote). But Tilly quickly proves to be a much more multi-dimensional character than Gershon’s, who basically snarls a lot and repeatedly gets knocked unconscious. Cool-headed and calculating, Violet manages to tackle the mob chain of command, including her husband Ceasar’s (Joe Pantoliano) violent rages, all while wearing scarcely more than a push-up bra. Corky is much less persuasive as a confident, quick-thinking ex-con, and she actually barely figures at all in the last half of the film. Once Corky hatches the plot to rob the mob, she’s left to listen on the other side of the wall as Violet handles one catastrophe after another. 

In one stunning scene, after Corky finds out that Violet is basically a glorified prostitute, Corky confronts her ability to pass as heterosexual by claiming that butchness is the only viable form of queer authenticity. Violet icily replies, “I don’t need a tattoo to tell me who I am.” Then, to further insult Corky’s pettiness, she says, “Try not to steal anything on your way out.” Because femmes are seen as more gender normative, they are also traditionally seen as less subversive and therefore less visible in the lesbian narrative. In comparison to the usual depictions of lesbian representation, it’s refreshing to see Violet be so upfront and righteously unapologetic about her sexual identity.

With sexy, cantid angles, slow-motion death sequences and Shining-esque close-ups of Ceasar flipping his shit, it’s not surprising that Bound was the film that put the Wachowski brothers on the map, and was the impetus for allowing them access to the perverse, technological mindfuck that was The Matrix. The plot is tight and unnerving— dipping in and out of disaster seemingly instantaneously, like a good noir should, and leaving the audience clutching their armrests trying to figure out what’s going to happen next. Once the suspense is over, however, the movie turns back into a kitschy lesbian romance, to the tune of bad Schwarzenegger dialogue and Tom Jones singing, “She’s a lady” as the two queer protagonists drive off into the sunset.