Slasher films revel in a different kind of delight – where violence, torture, and unprovoked horror sum up to a veritable body count. A good slasher film works in contrasting ways, it immediately makes you uncomfortable, and yet, there’s an immediate reaction to stay longer. To see what happens next. It digs deep into the idea of catharsis. Co-writer and director Shana Feste invests in the slasher genre for a different kind of revenge. First premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, Run Sweetheart Run presents a subversive take on the genre tropes in a post-#Metoo era, through a modern lens. Scathing in its takedown of misogyny, Run Sweetheart Run makes a fiery entry to the feminist revenge feature. It is blood-soaked and angry. Feste revealed that part of Run Sweetheart Run was based on her own experience with assault. It makes the experience all the more riveting, yet never burdensome in its storytelling. Run Sweetheart Run is wild and entertaining and also manages to pack a punch.
Let us take a deeper dive into the world of this cathartic tale, and discuss that wild ending. If you have seen the film, there must be a lot of questions about the identity of Ethan, and what does he signify throughout. How is he able to smell Cherie no matter where she hides? Who is the first lady? This analysis will take a deeper look at these questions and try to unpack the points that are carefully packed within the visual dynamics of Run Sweetheart Run. Major spoilers ahead, so do not read more if you still haven’t been able to see the film.
Run Sweetheart Run Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
Run Sweetheart Run revolves around the ambitious Cherie (Ella Balinska), who has just started working in a law firm. As a single mother, she is also preparing to be a lawyer at UCLA. Soon, she is set up for a dinner with a client for a work meeting which her sexist boss (Clark Gregg) cannot attend. At first, she discovers the client named Ethan (Pilou Asbæk) is pretty hot and even accommodating in his habitat. After dinner, where Ethan breaks loose at a dog (a careful point that comes later), he invites her for a drink. She willfully accepts and they kiss. But as they go inside, and the door closes on them, screams are heard.
Cherie comes out of the door, all bloodied and abused. She screams for help and files a complaint at the police station. Instead of filing her complaint, she is taken inside the bars for intoxication. There she learns how her cell inmate was also one of his victims. She is shocked and terrified. A while later, it is none other than Ethan who enters the cell and dares Cherie to survive him through the night. Thus begins her battle to survive, which becomes the main focus of Run Sweetheart Run.
Run Sweetheart Run Movie, Ending Explained:
Does Cherie survive the night?
Running her way out of the hold of Ethan, Cherie dials the first lady after all. Earlier in the film, Cherie was told by the boss’s wife to find the first lady. Only she would be able to help her outlive the night and save her from the hunt. She visits the first lady, who reveals how Ethan is more likely to survive in this patriarchal society because this has always been like this. Women are the ones bearing the most, suffocating themselves in order to survive. Cherie is helped by the first lady and her team of women to face up to the monster, as she has the power to destroy him. Her blood, she tells, is not her weakness but her strength. At first, Cherie doesn’t want to put herself as bait but when the first lady reveals that Ethan would come next for her daughter, she stops.
What happens when Ethan appears?
She unblocks all her wounds and throws in the tissue that was preventing her menstrual blood up to this point. Sure enough, Ethan comes in the background. She keeps the stone ready with her, but Ethan bangs her head so hard on the wall that she drops it. Ethan chokes her and is about to kill her when she willfully gives in to his desires. This makes Ethan stop for a moment, and Cherie takes this instant to crash the stone into the glass wall. It breaks and sunlight falls on his face, making him scream in agony. The women appear, breaking the glass and sunlight blinds Ethan to look any further. He tries to escape, with a black liquid oozing out of him as he writhes in pain. Cherie grabs him just in time, and the first lady throws the lighter. He catches fire and is destroyed once and forever.
In Run Sweetheart Run, the character of Ethan basically stands for patriarchy. Just as Cherie runs for her life and screams for help but is always caught up in the system – law, police, and enforcement, it shows how there is an inevitable web that is favoring patriarchy at the very core. No matter where Cherie tries to go undercover, her smell, her menstrual blood becomes her greatest weakness. She constantly tries to cover it or stop menstruating with tampons but with less success. It is also revealed how there have been countless victims like Cherie, and all of them are still missing.
Where are these women now? Why are there no inquiries, and no investigation? Run Sweetheart Run stands tall as a testament to a woman claiming her voice and her body. In the post #Metoo world, this tale of revenge acts as an important reminder of the physical and emotional abuse that women have been subjugated to by the other sex. The sly reference to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, while acknowledging its undeniable influence, also shows how Run Sweetheart Run has moved past in that pursuit of vengeance. This a bold retelling of the slasher feature which feels personal and fearless in its feminist exploration.
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