A factory generates food and beverage products for a meal. This factory is Dame Factory, which is a production facility but also a striking commentary on the commoditization of the female body.
Although this film is flawed, I will say that it achieves its goals and does make for a very uncomfortable viewing experience because it gets the balance just right in what it is saying. There are a few scenes here where we have women in cold, sterile rooms; they are generally stunning, dressed in underwear and appearing to be very sexual and in control – for some of their tasks they are assisted by another woman. However for each of them their role is purely to an end so in the context of the film their value is to produce products using their bodies – they are essentially things themselves. At the same time, watching the film and thinking "wow, she looks amazing", it makes the point that the difference is not too big between the odd specifics of the film and the general truth about these women if they were on billboards or adverts dressed the same way (which they are).
It is a simple point and if the film has a problem it is that this same message is repeated through the scenes without too much being added or built upon – just different examples of the same thing. The point is well made, it is just that it makes it without development. Each sequence is beautifully shot through, although Abramov's film is taking a stand, if she ever did want to make sexually charged commercials she would be more than ready to because she shoots this with a real good eye for the sexual and the delicate. The slow movement of the camera adds to the feeling of a lingering eye, whether it is on the women or the apparatus used in their function. It is a very good looking film indeed and again the way it and the women are so very pleasing to the eye only serves to back-up the point being made.
It is not a perfect short film because it repeats itself several times without development, but it is very well presented and is clever in the construct to present women as commoditized objects in the context of the factory, but at the same time have them be alluring to the viewer in a different, but ultimately similar, manner.
