Where does our power lie? The film No Mercy by Isa Willinger is searching to find the answer.

To start from the beginning, Isa Willinger took inspiration from another director, Kira Muratova, who told her, “The truth is, women make harsher films”. Willinger began to wonder how this could be true considering women tend to be seen as more ‘empathetic’ and ‘sensitive’. This question lingers as we journey through the film. It raises questions about how societally we view women and how that impacts our interpretations or expectations of their works.

Willinger sets out to meet some of the great women and nonbinary directors we all know and love. These directors included: Ana Lily Amirpour, Catherine Breillat, Jackie Buet, Margit Czenki, Virginie Despentes, Alice Diop, Valie Export, Nina Menkes, Marzieh Meshkini, Mouly Surya, Céline Sciamma, Joey Soloway, Monika Treut, and Apolline Traoré. Many of the directors listed here have works that touch on the harsh realities of life. Some include depictions of humiliation and some of revenge. Many works also include topics that are typically harder to discuss such as rape, trauma, power, and the imfamous female gaze.

The female gaze is more prominent than one would think and that is exactly what Willinger begins to expose through her film. She takes us on a journey into the filmmaking of women. Exposing where we stand as a society on gender and power both on the big screen and in the real world.

No Mercy exposes and explores real life problems that our society faces when it comes to talking about women and the power dynamics in gender. On screen, many films construct women, conforming them to what a male would find ‘attractive’ or conforming the woman to the beauty standards we have embedded in our society. At what point can a woman just be a woman? Off screen this is a reality too. Societally there is a heavy pressure to look a certain way or act a certain way to be ‘accepted’. These range through gender and a lot of it has to do with the differentiating amounts of power each gender is allotted. These are some of the real-life topics Willinger explores through her film.

Overall, the film is an empowering piece. Striving to explore and expose the truth on where we stand on gender and power.

No Mercy had its North American premiere at DOC NYC on November 13th.