By examining Elvira’s relationships with Irene and her daughter Marie-Anne in the context of Edelman’s critique on reproductive futurism, it becomes apparent how In a Year of 13 Moons captures the impossibility of the queer to exist within the space of the heterosexual symbolic. This reading of the film is best understood by analyzing Elvira’s final visit with her family when she abruptly arrives to their picnic. This scene occurs near the end of the film and marks a rapid escalation of Elvira’s downward spiral. In fact, it appears that this encounter drives Elvira to suicide. The scene is especially noteworthy for the way it connects to past moments from the film to deliver a message on Elvira’s psychological experience.
At the start of the sequence, the camera watches Elvira at a distance as she turns around the corner, hesitantly adjusting her poorly-fitted tie. As she approaches the women, the camera follows along side-by-side, halting at Elvira’s shoulder as her family comes into view. The framing of this shot speaks volumes about both Elvira’s mindset and positionality. Aligned almost perfectly with Elvira’s position, and yet angled to capture her …show more content…
Bursting with laughter at the sight of her in men’s clothing, the viewer is painfully reminded of Elvira’s previous experiences. Old wounds are reopened when one remembers her vicious beating at the hands of the gay cruisers. The pain becomes even more acute when one considers her attempt to find work. The men at the slaughterhouse also laughed and threw her out in a mirror image of Irene’s laughter and rejection in this scene. Unwelcome amongst her female family, and ostracized from both gay and straight men, Elvira finds there is simply no place for her in society. In this sense, she becomes the living embodiment of the death drive as, “the negativity opposed to every form of social viability” (Edelman
At the start of the sequence, the camera watches Elvira at a distance as she turns around the corner, hesitantly adjusting her poorly-fitted tie. As she approaches the women, the camera follows along side-by-side, halting at Elvira’s shoulder as her family comes into view. The framing of this shot speaks volumes about both Elvira’s mindset and positionality. Aligned almost perfectly with Elvira’s position, and yet angled to capture her …show more content…
Bursting with laughter at the sight of her in men’s clothing, the viewer is painfully reminded of Elvira’s previous experiences. Old wounds are reopened when one remembers her vicious beating at the hands of the gay cruisers. The pain becomes even more acute when one considers her attempt to find work. The men at the slaughterhouse also laughed and threw her out in a mirror image of Irene’s laughter and rejection in this scene. Unwelcome amongst her female family, and ostracized from both gay and straight men, Elvira finds there is simply no place for her in society. In this sense, she becomes the living embodiment of the death drive as, “the negativity opposed to every form of social viability” (Edelman