Not Your Scream Queen #2: He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not
Continuing Em and EJ's exploration of female-driven horror, we dive into the French film He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not, which offers two sides to the same twisted love story.
Not Your Scream Queen
Episode 2: HE LOVES ME HE LOVES ME NOT
- We are back with our mini series featuring women in horror aptly titled NOT YOUR SCREAM QUEEN..
- Your two ADHD diagnosed hosts agree that this is the most focused mini-series they’ve accomplished yet, and they are feeling pretty proud of it. Of course that might be because the “work” involved has been a delight!
- Em has loved the research for this series. Watching horror movies? Who wouldn’t love it?
- Em doesn’t typically take a deep dive into horror—she takes them at face value. This exercise has made her think about them a little differently.
- In college, EJ took a class where she’d actually have a “lab” that was watching a film, and then the class would be dissecting and discussing the movie. Pretty awesome.
- The women discuss how there is a literary equivalent in some films and EJ suggest (rightfully) that we have reached a point as a society where we should discuss films and their artistic merit the same way we discuss novels.
- Em admits her absolute love of movies. All movies. Artistic and terrible—her early video store days left a huge impression on her.
- They jump right into today’s episode: He Loves Me He Loves Me Not.
- EJ first watched HE LOVES ME HE LOVES ME NOT during her college days, around the early 2000s.
- EJ was wandering the aisles of Block Buster with college friends. They were looking for something to new to watch and had liked Amalie. The friend group recognized the leading actress from Amalie and decided to give this one a shot…they had no idea what they were getting in to.
- The geeks give a run-down of the plot of He Loves Me He Loves Me Not.
- The movie is split in two parts: HER point of view and HIS point of view. EJ and Em dissect how this works in the film.
- Emily is so enthusiastic that she basically interrupts EJ every five minutes (lol). She has no regrets. :P
- They discuss Erotomania—a real diagnosable mental illness that inspired this movie. It is a rare diagnosis.
- EJ discusses problematic tropes that this movie brings to mind.
- EJ compares the film to the show Crazy Ex Girlfriend and how it calls out common, problematic tropes.
- The medical student that is in love with Angelique during the entire movie has his own problems. EJ and Em chat about how he thought it was fully okay to steal a human heart for Angelique. What?!?
- They discuss why the mental illness aspect of the movie didn’t feel wrong.
- What would happen if the movie was gender flipped?
- Is this movie a horror flick or a Psychological Thriller? EJ thinks that it is nudged into the horror category because of the human heart and the creepy murals. They agree that the movie definitely walks the line between the two.
- The consensus is that you could be COMPLETELY fooled into thinking this is a rom com from the opening scene.
- The movie is not without its problems—it is twenty years old—but EJ and Em agree that it is entertaining and they’d suggest to friends.
- EJ finished Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng and enjoyed it, and is now beginning the Hulu show. She thinks it is a pretty solid read and show adaptation (so far).
- Gareth Frank (a DC author) is in a writing group with EJ, and his book THE MOMENT BETWEEN—a psychological and metaphysical thriller recently released. EJ was an early beta for a draft and enjoys having the finished product in her hands.
- The pressure of the Libby list is REAL—EJ warned Em—but she didn’t realize. Now, Em is reading against the clock.
- Em is reading a book called CONURE WOMEN by Afia Atakora. Em fell in love with the beautiful cover and chose it to read without even reading the back blurb. The book is very literary and takes place in the years before and after slavery. Em is very much digging the writing style, as well as the story of intelligent women and their story of survival.
- Next up on Em’s list is THE YEAR OF THE WITCHING by Alexis Henderson. She’s excited about it. Who doesn’t love a good witch story?
- Don’t forget about our bookshop on bookshop.org.
- Link to the Fantasy + Girl Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/shop/SFFGirlPodcast
- Stay tuned for the next episode where the girls chat about the movie MA.