Halle Berry. As a disgraced mixed martial arts fighter. Who is bisexual. Bruised has all the ingredients needed to become a Sapphic Cinema classic. But does Berry’s directorial debut live up to its promise? Bruised got lukewarm reviews around the time of its release. But this film is well worth watching. Here’s why.
Halle Berry plays Jackie Justice, a former MMA champion down on her luck. She’s trapped in an abusive relationship with her boyfriend/manager, working as a cleaner to make ends meet. After taking down a much bigger opponent, Jackie is offered a path to redemption: train with Buddhakan and compete in the next championship match. Jackie is promised $10,000 if she fights, $10,000 more if she wins. A life changing amount of money.
And when the son Jackie walked out on enters her life, the stakes are raised. Jackie puts everything into her training – not only to win respect, but to build a new life for her and Manny. Buddhakan starts off sceptical, since Jackie’s out of shape and middle-aged. But she’s quickly won over by Jackie’s spark, and nurtures it into a blaze. The lines between personal and professional quickly blur.
We don’t get many mainstream films about Black women in lesbian relationships. Hardly any where both halves of the couple are Black women. The relationship between Jackie and Buddhakan is significant, and it’s also sweet. They strike a golden balance between passion and tenderness. Buddakhan becomes a place of safety not only for Jackie, but for Manny – a boy so traumatized by his father’s sudden death that he refuses to speak.
In the last few years, Netflix has churned out a lot of trauma porn. From 13 Reasons Why to All the Bright Places, they’ve been romanticizing the hell out of mental illness. But there’s nothing quirky or Instagrammable about Bruised. And therein lies its greatest strength. Jackie’s panic attack isn’t pretty – it’s raw and desperate. Her path to wholeness is not neatly mapped, nevermind linear. And, while Buddhakan being gentle and kind certainly helps, romantic love doesn’t define Jackie’s story.
The road to Jackie’s recovery is paved with blood, sweat, and a lot of tears. And – as the title suggests – Jackie spends the majority of this film covered in bruises and cuts. This is the only obvious cosmetics Berry wears for the majority of the film. Given how extreme and unrealistic beauty standards have become in Hollywood, it’s a joy to see Jackie sweat, to be fully human, with all the mess that involves, instead of a perfect doll.
Few female characters are allowed to appear on screen without a full face of makeup – but this is the power of the female gaze. Though Jackie is in touch with her sexuality, she is never objectified. Whether or not she’s attractive to male viewers is irrelevant to the story. Having a woman in the director’s chair is powerful.
Bruised is not a hugely original story. It shares many parallels with Mickey Rourke’s comeback film, The Wrestler, down to substance abuse and estranged child. Like Tiger: Blood in the Mouth, it follows a fighter in their fifties up against a much younger opponent. And the training montages with their punchy tunes are reminiscent of Rocky. But these films are popular for a reason. Who doesn’t love to root for the scrappy underdog, the unlikely champion?
While there are plenty of films like Bruised in story and theme, very few star women. Female characters are rarely centered in films about raw strength and physical combat. Berry followed an intense physical fitness program to prepare for the role. She even cracked two ribs during production. Her hardcore efforts behind the scenes make Jackie entirely believable.
And Jackie’s opponent – Lucia ‘Ladykiller’ Chavez – is played by real life UFC Women’s Flyweight Champion, Valentina Shevchenko. She defended her title in six consecutive matches, and her expertise adds a terrifying realism to Lucia’s ruthlessness.
Bruised is not a film about winning or losing. It’s about Jackie finding the courage to show up, as a fighter and a mother. Though it celebrates the transformative power of Black women loving each other, Bruised isn’t a love story either. Perhaps this is why the film never got much in the way of mainstream recognition. But Bruised’s refusal to fit comfortably into those clichéd narratives is what makes it stand out as a work of Sapphic cinema.
Bruised is now streaming on Netflix.
