An Oversimplification of Her Beauty
In 84 minutes, Terrence Nance says more about the way the men view women than most romantic films Hollywood has ever put out. Right in the title, “An Oversimplification of Her Beauty,” Nance is calling his shot in what he is going to do, and it’s a good thing to, because the structure he works with can be tricky to follow. If you follow it, though, it’s one of the most imaginative movies about the male gaze as you’ll ever see. (As I’m writing this in 2021, it’s available on The Criterion Channel under the Afrofuturism collection.)
Nance begins by laying out the premise of a short film that the protagonist has made about his hopeful relationship with a woman. Made in 2006, “How Would U Feel” has the man coming back from a day at work, where he arrived late. He is transporting parts of a bed to his apartment. The woman wants to come over and hang out, but later calls, and tells him that she made it home. The voice on the narration asks, “How would you feel?” As the film progresses, we get more of the woman’s perspective, and how she sees the project the man has made, and how she sees the way men have a specific way of looking at women.
This is a fairly audacious first feature for a director, as Nance is not only playing with narrative structure, but the deconstructive nature of cinema itself. The short film is one that Nance made, and it’s his voice over the soundtrack. Sometimes he plays the same parts of the short over, as if to signify multiple days, sometimes he stops it, moves to another part in the story before picking up later, and sometimes, we see the story unfold as if it would in real life. We get video effects, an erasing of the woman’s identity out of respect for their wishes, while also giving her a voice, and even animated sequences that get to the emotional center of the story. All the while, the narration is bringing depth to Nance’s ideas. You can enjoy it on the surface as a visual exercise, and there’s a lot to like on that level, but what really worked for me was how Nance is exploring the ways men look at women- sometimes boiling them down to their beauty, the surface of their being- and look at relationships, and how that can demean women when it reveals a lack of respect. The protagonist making his film feels like an act of devotion, but when the woman is given a chance to speak about it, we find out exactly how she feels. The way Nance gives her an opportunity to show her side of the story is wonderful and clever; his film feels more honest about the exploration of the complexities of human relationships than many movies are capable of. Just for the experience of watching this film again, this is a worthwhile one to rewatch; I’m grateful that it won’t be a rewatch I simply enjoy on the surface.
