Beyond the Forest

“What a dump”, declares Rosa Moline, wife of a small town doctor, who yearns for big city life. She is having an affair with a businessman from Chicago who owns a nearby hunting lodge, and she’s prepared to give up everything for him. But when he reveals that he is planning to marry someone else, she is deeply hurt. Resigned to her fate, she returns to her husband and is soon pregnant. When her lover has a change of heart, Rosa is determined to follow him to Chicago. However, there is somebody standing in the way … Beyond the Forest is an over-the-top film noir, with a heroine even more depraved than was already customary for the genre. At the same time, it traces much that women must repress, including here her desire for an abortion, or the sinister subordination to the power of emotions. King Vidor renders them in decidedly male symbolic imagery – a fiery blast furnace, a hissing steam locomotive. Consciously repellent, yet fascinating, Bette Davis’ performance oscillates between camp and modern classic. She inspired Edward Albee to create the character of Martha in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” (1962), who even quotes Rosa’s unforgettable avowal “what a dump!”.