Andrea Riseborough as the eponymous Mandy
Sometimes, I think existing as a woman is a death wish. I have faced sexual harassment starting from the age of 4. As a young girl and teenager, I had to endure it silently, in fear of retaliation if I defended myself. Around my early 20s, I grew tired of it all. I started to push back. I told men to fuck themselves. I gave them dirty looks and gave them the middle finger in response to their catcalls or pickup lines. Most men just called me a bitch, whore, whatever but some men took it further. They did not handle the rejection well. I've been followed, threatened with violence. I have been groped. I have been raped.
Isn't it sad that I'm relieved?
Because at least they didn't kill me.
And that is the fate that befalls Mandy. She is walking home one day when she catches the attention of a cult leader as he is driving by in his van. He becomes immediately smitten and kidnaps her, believing she is the one, that she will complete him. She is his dream girl.
He plays her his folk music and dances naked in front of her as a means of seduction.
And she laughs.
And laughs.
She rejects him thoroughly. The dream girl becomes a mocking nightmare.
So he burns her. Literally. He kills her in one of the most horrific ways possible. All to soothe a bruised ego.
Because what are women to men, but witches that need to be burned?
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