'Perfect Blue (1997)' is genuinely disturbing, especially when it comes to its depictions of sexual violence. It features one of the most upsetting rape scenes I've seen (not that rape scenes are ever anything other than upsetting), even though the scene in question is framed as a consensual simulation, part of a television show that our protagonist, Mima, is filming. The flick also makes a nude photo shoot seem incredibly leery and violating, despite the fact that the shoot is, at least on the surface, entirely consensual. I say "at least on the surface" because the picture never makes it clear whether or not it is Mima's actual desire to do the things she is doing; as a fellow reviewer put it, she consents to these things simply because she doesn't know how not to. Although she constantly says that she chose to become an actress and, in saying so, implies that the horrors she faces are simply unavoidable consequences of that decision (which they should never be), she is never actually depicted as having chosen to be an actress at all; it's her manager who consistently reinforces the idea, with his reasoning seemingly being entirely based on the proposed profits of his decision. We don't know if she herself actually wants to do what she's doing or whether she has just internalised the wishes of others, in a similar fashion to how she internalises the public's hypocritical perception of her to the point that her true self is seemingly lost. In every instance in which Mima consents to being put in a sexualised, typically exploitative situation, she also subsequently expresses deep regret and experiences some form of trauma. Her life is entirely controlled by the men around her, from her all-male fans who leer at her while she's on stage and practically peer through her clothing yet chastise her when she actually shows some skin and expresses her sexuality to her manager who constantly excuses the exploitative situations he puts her in and even pushes for further scenarios in an effort to cement her position as an actress (a position which, again, he is entirely responsible for) to the stalker who watches her every move and impersonates her online in an effort to maintain the squeaky clean image he so desperately desires her to have. Everyone seeks to control her and she herself internalises this control as her own wants and needs. She confuses her true self with the self that other people want her to be, whether that's the innocent pop star or the grown-up actress. Her true self is arguably never seen on screen; if it is, it's whenever she is on her own, away from the public eye, and is able to reflect on her existence. Even the safety of her apartment soon becomes derailed, though. As her realities start to bleed into one another, so do the different elements of the film itself. It blurs the line between reality and the eerily true-to-life television show Mima is working on, between reality and the increasingly disturbing waking nightmares Mima is experiencing, even between reality and reality itself (it often presents us with situations that must be real to an extent, yet it does so in a deliberately confusing and, even, misleading way). The entire movie represents the crisis of personality at the heart of its tale. It brilliantly folds its conflict into its very fabric, trapping us within an uncomfortable and increasingly erratic headspace. You feel as unsteady and as icky as the protagonist, victimised by the plot's horrors and shaken by its mind-bending concepts. It's purposefully ambiguous, purposefully unsettling, as much a horror film as any other to use that label. Somehow, it's even scary in its most realistic moments; it doesn't need to make you question reality to make your skin crawl. I feel as though I'm not explaining it as well as I could be, because there's so much to say and it's so difficult to concisely do so (I'm also aware that I want to avoid major spoilers). This is a movie that practically demands analysis. Despite being animated, it's as real and mature as any film ever has been. It will seriously get under your skin. It certainly got under mine, and it's showing no signs of getting out any time soon. It's one of the few films I can recall that genuinely disturbed me. 8/10.
