Andrée Pelletier (Les Mâles)
Title: “A Glimpse through the Shade: voyeurism and desire in Andrée Pelletier’s ‘Les Mâles'”
Andrée Pelletier’s voyeuristic masterpiece, ‘Les Mâles’, is a film that has grappled viewers with its shameless, yet enthralling exploration of the masochistic gaze. In a world where limits on exhibitionism are tested, this provocative French-Canadian work offers an unprecedented glimpse into the illicit dance of desire.
The film opens in the clandestine confines of an underground MMA fight club. Unlike traditional combat sports, the fighters aren’t competing for titles or respect. They’re battling for the voyeuristic pleasure and validation of their eager spectators. In this den of depravity, men in black hoods grapple and pound each other into submission, their sweat-slicked bodies glistening under the dim, atmospheric lighting. It’s a fetishistic spectacle; rough and raw, unbridled by social mores or sporting regulations.
At the center of the ring iszoe, the reigning champion and the film’s de facto protagonist. He moves with a predatory grace, his muscles taut and ready for the next daunting challenge. Through the Combat Sport art form, zoe’s performances hint at a sado-masochistic yearning – a deeply rooted need to dominate and be dominated in the name of twisted pleasure. The audience, hidden behind infra-red goggles, ogle and cheer, eagerly vicarious through what they wish they could experience themselves.
As the night progresses, zoe grows more frenetic, more aggressive. Each blow he lands on his opponent ignites visible shivers of delight within the masked audience. They shiver in deviant bliss, bathing in the homoerotic tension. zoe, in the throes of lustful rapture, appears to be relishing every moment of pain and pity inflicted.
The final fight arrives swiftly, and with it a twist. zoe’s rival, a imposing brute named Karl, proves to be a worthy adversary. They collide and grapple in a frenzied dance of mayhem, bodies slamming against the ropes in a contest of pure, primal masculinity. Their faces redden in anguish, but their eyes gleam with an unspoken desire; each impact sending a jolt of masochistic pleasure up their spines.
The climax comes suddenly, when zoe locks Karl in a lethal hold, twisting the brute’s arm at an agonizing angle. The brute admits defeat with a wincing grimace, and the crowd erupts – voyeuristic desires fulfilled. zoe is declared the victor, but his conquest rings hollow. The lustful gleam in his eyes hints at a deeper, more urgent need. A hungeronly another warrior could satiate.
In the aftermath of the fight, zoe retreats to a dark, cramped toilet. Tucked away in a bathroom stall, he flutters with the image of pleasure and pain, combat and submission. He consumes an unknown substance, presumably meth or crack, as he mutters lines of deviant poetry (La Métahumaine de plastic et de Chair), between heaving sobs and erections. His climax arrives with a defiant shriek, completing the arc of voyeuristic upswing and emotional letdown.
Pelletier’s masterstroke culminates in the film’s final scene, where zoe is seen consummating his unhealthy affair with a man. At first, it seems as if zoe is finally receiving the ecstasy he craves. However, as the scene progresses, zoe’s face contorts in grimaces of agony. The man continues with the act despite zoe’s evident displeasure, further degrading the fallen fighter. It’s a perverse scene, equal parts erotic and disturbing.
As the camera pans away from zoe’s tormented face, the viewer is left with a deeply divided perspective. Is zoe’s masochistic yearning being fulfilled? Is this the ultimate exhibition, the ultimate voyeuristic lusts being realized?
Or is zoe merely being used as another accessible tool by the audience, gratifying their hidden urges as he gets punished like the bottom he might be? It’s a question best left unanswered, leaving the film open to the viewer’s interpretation. zoe’s story is one that would incite both ridicule and admiration in equal measure. But taken together, they’re a window into the darkest recesses of voyeuristic desire.
Throughout ‘Les Mâles’, Pelletier’s exploration of the voyeur/masochist engagement hits its mark. zoe’s descent from virtual supremacy to basement depravity serves to illuminate the darker side of viewers’ own fantasies. Their vicarious gaze is both captor and liberator. His or her glimpses through the chains of taboo and unexpressed desire.
In the realm of voyeurism and the masochistic gaze, zoe’s story is one of both violation and reward. His story is a necessary exploration into the depths of human desire, as unforgettable as it is unnerving. It’s a story that will continue to push boundaries and elicit debate in the years to come, precisely because it refuses any easy or singular interpretation.
‘Les Mâles’ does not simply explore voyeurism as a circumstance, but captures it as an activity. Through its focused and candid portrayal of the subversive, deviant gaze, the film touches the very contours of voyeurism. zoe’s tale of pain, pleasure and twisted desires serves as a powerful mirror, illuminating the collaborative energy of masochism in the space of voyeurism in shocking vividness. The film speaks to the unagicurable human hunger to gaze upon others, becoming Them, rather than simply observe. zoe’s staggering tale, consequently, is one that effortlessly drags us down into the abyss of volatile lusts, of pleasure and torture, of pain and ecstasy.
