Ashley Judd returns to The Collector and questions the film

“It’s OK to like the movie and come tell me it’s your favorite movie… but why film male sexual violence and torture of the female body and consider that entertainment?”

She was one of the star actresses of the 1990s across the Atlantic.

Ashley Judd is now reconsidering one of her big box office hits. In a recent Instagram video, she returned to The Collector (Kiss the Girls1997), adapted from the Alex Cross novels, and how the film depicts sexual violence against women, an experience she describes as “traumatic”.

“Le Collector focuses on male sexual violence and torture of female bodies”believes Judd. “Back then, we often presented these stories around female resilience, the strength to survive. A lot of people still say that’s what the film represents to them. But I have another question: Why is sexual terror against women something we package as entertainment? Why is it profitable?”

Ashley Judd continues by reminding us that it is possible to love the film while questioning its content:

“I want to talk about the film in a way that has become quite obvious to me over the years – and I invite you to think about it for yourselves: it’s OK to love the film and come and tell me it’s your favorite film, but why film male sexual violence and torture of the female body and consider that entertainment?”

She expands on her point: “It’s resilience after male sexual violence. It’s resilience after male torture of the female body and I wonder…why is this entertainment? Why is it a capitalist business? Why are we creating entertainment and making money on such a topic? » And to conclude: “We promote my resilience in the film but we do not criticize, we do not take a step back or we do not ask ourselves why… the film is about trauma, and it is traumatic… For me, it is not entertainment. It’s collective denial…and making entertainment out of sexual terror.”

The actress finally points out that the film contains “very misogynistic dialogue”, which is “painfully unacceptable“.

Adapted from the novel by James Patterson and directed by Gary Fleder, The Collector starred Morgan Freeman as psychologist Alex Cross and Judd as a doctor and kickboxer kidnapped by a masked serial killer calling himself Casanova.

The film grossed $60 million worldwide for Paramount Pictures, on a budget just under $30 million, and spawned the sequel The Spider’s Mask in 2001, even more lucrative with 105 million dollars in revenue.