[Editorial] Exploring Sexuality in The Untamed (2014)

**Note: This editorial contains spoilers

Pleasure isn’t a simple part of humanity. The receptors in our bodies that allow us to experience pleasure and feel intense bursts of euphoria are like a conundrum. We do not have control over what gives us pleasure, it is simply something within the human body that just exists. This is where pleasure meets sexuality, providing a fluid landscape that allows us to explore our wildest dreams and feel fulfilled by our darkest desires. Whilst we might not always understand the fantasies of others and why they derive their pleasure from particular means, what we can resonate with is finding ecstasy in one of life’s necessities, and as long as the means of doing so doesn’t harm others – then we can accept that every individual’s pleasure is essential. 

The Untamed (La region salvaje) from director Amat Escalante is a 2016 science-fiction horror film that blends the worlds of the absurd and comfortable with that of sexuality and pleasure. The film takes a bleak look at the devastating effects of repressed sexaulity, and the repercussions when pleasure is allowed to consume life and become the sole means of escapism. Alejandra is trapped within an unhappy marriage to Angel, who happens to be having a secret affair with Alejandra’s brother Fabian. The complicated love triangle begins to unravel when Fabian meets Veronica who introduces him to something otherworldly that delivers nothing but sheer pleasure to the human condition. When the affair comes to its conclusion at the hands of Fabian, the consequences abruptly turn into a horrific trail of violence and heartbreak. From here, we watch a descent into both pleasure and pain, with each character dealing with their repressed feelings in ways that end in happiness and harm. 

Escalante’s sci-fi horror depiction is a representation of the complications that come with sexuality. Providing a dark look at how repressing our inner desires can lead to secrets that destroy lives. The characters experience confusion at their own sexual states, and struggle to come to terms with what they really want from their lives – but one thing is clear for them all, they understand and know exactly where their personal pleasures are derived from. 

Alejandra is a timid woman, one who looks as though she is constantly unhappy with her life. In one scene we watch as her husband Angel has rough sex with her from behind, while  her response remains solemn – an expressionless picture painted across her face, displaying how devoid of emotion she is to the man who lays beside her. Not only does this show that her sexual needs are not being met by this man, but it confirms the complacency that humans put themselves through in order to ‘protect’ the nuclear family life they have built. As humans we’re expected to lose our sense of identity, and our sense of what truly gives us pleasure in this world. We marry people who do not fulfill our needs, and we allow ourselves to live in lustless, loveless marriages in order to keep up the pretense of happiness amongst peers. Alejandra has been oppressed by her husband, and as the film progresses, we see how she finally begins to choose her needs over his. 

Angel could be considered as both a monster and victim when it comes to his sexuality in The Untamed. His affair with his wife’s brother, Fabian, immediately makes him seem as though he is committing an adulterous act and harming his wife indirectly. Even though it is easy to see Angel as a man with no morals, it is clear that the film is set with a societal backdrop which is not inclusive and accepting of homosexual men, and therefore this forces them to hide their true feelings. Whilst understandable to feel upset with the behaviour that Angel condones, his actions do not come from a place of malice towards Alejandra, instead from trying to hide his true self in the shadows and indulge in what he truly wants in this world. Even his most violent actions come from a place of frustration, not from necessarily being a bad person. It can often be difficult to sympathise with someone who commits adultery, and has a violent streak, but when considering Angel’s repressed circumstances, it’s easy to see why he becomes so emotionally pent up, with an outburst just waiting beneath the surface. 

Fabian is another gay character, that whilst not hiiding as much as Angel, still doesn’t fully want to let his authentic self be known too openly. He sneaks around with Angel behind his sister’s back, also keeping his sexuality and pleasures close to his heart. These repressed emotions make Fabian a vulnerable character, almost like putty in the hands of Angel because he desires him too, not wanting to lose this person from his life and potentially also destroy his relationship with his sister. When he meets the enigmatic and mysterious Veronica, it’s clear that his sexuality is more fluid than first thought and therefore he begins a relationship with Veronica. For this couple, it’s less about being sexually pleasured and more about emotional pleasure. We often feel that pleasure can only be received through sexual acts, however, many of us find our true pleasure from emotional connection – whether a relationship, a friendship or someone familial, this type of pleasure can still give the human soul a euphoric burst. Veronica and Fabian are kindred spirits, and therefore don’t need sexual encounters to consecrate their relationship, instead they build upon a foundation that is more akin to an intense and intimate friendship. 

Veronica comes into the lives of Fabian, Alejanandra and Angel without allowing anyone to truly understand who she is. What she brings with her is the permission to allow yourself to be ruled by pure pleasure, and to leave behind any guilt that might come with this. Having been wrapped up and caressed by the creature that dwells within the cabin in the woods, Veronica has experienced what she describes as the most intense and pure pleasure that a human can ever allow to tantalise their skin. This extreme experience is one that she believes others should at least know once in their life, and she looks to bring Fabian and Alejandra to the creature in order to find what it is their lives have been lacking. There is much taboo surrounding finding pleasure in the disgusting, but The Untamed draws similarities from Andrzej Zulawski’s 1981 sci-fi horror film Possession by taking a shocking spectacle and entwining it within human pleasure. With every hole in the body completely consumed by tentacles that fill, slip and masturbate in unimaginable ways, this brings the human condition into a place of sheer ecstasy, like nothing else. 

The Untamed throws an uncomfortable question towards the audience by making them consider what happens when we allow our darkest fantasies to take over our lives. Whilst the tentacled creature brings the ultimate climax to its person of choice, for those who it doesn’t enjoy being with, it brutally slaughters them and spits them back into the world like a piece of meat, easily abandoned. This is a film that explores pleasure through the lens of an otherworldly monster that has been designed to bring the most cosmic orgasms that man or woman could ever fathom. It’s also a film that looks to interrogate what happens when sexuality and desire is repressed, hidden and made to feel like something that shouldn’t be explored. We might be searching for the ultimate understanding of our human psyche, but that shouldn’t come at the expense of our pleasure.

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