Below Her Mouth

Directed by April Mullen

Canada, 2016 (fiction, 94 minutes, colour, English)

Also known as "Bajo su boca", "Sous ses lèvres"

Image: © Elevation Pictures

Film Description:
"Jasmine (Natalie Krill) is a successful fashion editor living with her fiancé, Rile (Sebastian Pigott). On a night out in the city with her best friend, she meets Dallas (Erika Linder), a roofer recently out of a relationship. Jasmine is taken by surprise when Dallas confidently hits on her; she turns Dallas down, but can't get her out of her head. Dallas continues her cool, self-assured advances. In a matter of days, Jasmine succumbs and the two women embark on a steamy affair. It feels like a fantasy world compared to Jasmine's life and plans with Rile, but soon reality rears its head, and she will have to face the profound changes their sudden romance has wrought in her. Stephanie Fabrizi's screenplay powerfully and honestly explores what happens when two women fall hard for each other, and Mullen brings the story to the screen with uninhibited flair and assurance, showing us how love can arise from some of the messiest times in our lives. Below Her Mouth is a rarity in more than one way: it's a fiction film shot with an entirely female crew, and it's an uncommonly frank look at the all-encompassing nature of attraction—the good, the bad, the ugly, and the transcendendent."
-- Magali Simard (source)

Film Credits (partial):
Written by:	Stephanie Fabrizi
Produced by:	Melissa Coghlan
Principal Cast:	Natalie Krill, Melanie Leishman, Erika Linder, Mayko Nguyen, Sebastian Pigott, Andrea Stefancikova
Cinematography:	Maya Bankovic
Film Editing:	Michelle Szemberg
Music:	Noia
Production Company:	Serendipity Point Films

(sources)

Notes about Below Her Mouth

Filmed in Toronto.
Shown at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2016.

(sources)

Quote by the Director

"Rather than just talk about the underrepresentation of women in film, we decided to do something about it with Below Her Mouth. The goal was to bring to life an honest depiction of what it's like to experience desire, love, intimacy, sex and heartbreak from a female's perspective—so we decided to assemble an all-female crew."
-- April Mullen (source)

Quotes about Below Her Mouth

"Some of the positions [in the all-female film crew for Below Her Mouth] were really, really hard to fill, you know, grip and electric, for instance. A lot of the sort of technical crew positions, there aren't a lot of women. And we were really, really lucky that we were able to assemble this fantastic crew. We had so many recommendations from people that I'd worked with, people that April [Mullen] had worked with, people who heard our story. A lot of guys that I had worked with in the past were calling me and saying, 'I have somebody for you.'"
-- Melissa Coghlan (source)

"[In Below Her Mouth] it's emotional. It was never just sex for sex, it was how to achieve this emotional beat with the movement of their bodies. We didn't want to zoom in on just body parts grinding together. That's not what I would be turned on by as a woman. Zooming in on grinding body parts, without the context of eyes, would be outside of the female gaze."
-- Stephanie Fabrizi (source)

"The ambient yet groove-laden score by Noia acts like a third character, lushly sweeping through scenes while lending them a thrilling momentum. As the layers of Jasmine's sexuality move closer together—and then threaten to fly apart—desire turns into suspense. In Below Her Mouth, the title can be read as a sexual allusion. But it also signals the futility of trying to hide our innate desires, let alone behind something as flimsy as words."
-- Christopher Kompanek (source)

Publications by the Director about Below Her Mouth

Mullen, April. "This is what happens when you hire an entirely female crew for your film." CBC, February 7, 2017.

Bibliography for Below Her Mouth

Articles from Newspapers, Magazines, or News Websites

Barnard, Linda. "A few good women; All-female crew a natural fit for provocative indie drama that offers 'honest, simple' perspective of two Toronto women who fall in love." Interview with April Mullen, Melissa Coghlan. Toronto Star, December 10, 2015.
Barnard, Linda. "That night in the alley: Actresses Natalie Krill and Erika Linder recall shooting a sexy key scene for relationship drama 'Below Her Mouth'." Interview with Natalie Krill, Erika Linder. Toronto Star, September 10, 2016.
Co, Cherileigh. "All-female film crew and Ryerson alumna director premiere Below Her Mouth." Interview with April Mullen. Ryersonian, February 13, 2017.
Cole, Susan G. "Below Her Mouth underestimates dykes smarts." Review of Below Her Mouth. Now (Toronto), February 8, 2017.
Houpt, Simon. "Bringing the female gaze to Canadian film." Interview with Stephanie Fabrizi. Globe and Mail, September 10, 2016.
Houpt, Simon. "Canadian drama Below Her Mouth may be first film with all-female crew." Globe and Mail, November 6, 2015.
Kompanek, Christopher. "'Below Her Mouth': Electricity happens when bodies do the talking." Review of Below Her Mouth. Washington Post, April 27, 2017.
Lodge, Guy. "Film Review: 'Below Her Mouth'; Model Erika Linder announces herself as a promising screen presence in Canadian director April Mullen's unremarkable lesbian romance." Review of Below Her Mouth. Variety, April 27, 2017.
Szklarski, Cassandra. "Lesbian love story 'Below Her Mouth' meant to 'empower,' not exploit: filmmakers." Interview with Stephanie Fabrizi, Melissa Coghlan. Ottawa Citizen, September 7, 2016.
Taylor, Kate. "Fifty Shades Darker and Below Her Mouth try and fail to spice up the big screen; Just in time for Valentine's Day, two new films arrive with the hope of sexing up the erotica genre—but both are far more limp than limber." Review of Below Her Mouth. Globe and Mail, February 10, 2017.

Web Sites about Below Her Mouth

"IMDb: Below Her Mouth." Internet Movie Database, Inc. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5073620/reference.