Some movies will go down in history for their aesthetic values; others, for their importance in documenting a specific topic. But there are rare films which are able to combine both an undoubted documentary value and an aesthetic that triggers something uncomfortably new, but definitely worth examining. Bella Vendetta’s long feature directorial debut is one of these cases.
The Training of Poe (Beautiful Revenge Productions, 2017) follows Chelsea Poe as she travels to the hills of Western Massachusetts to be trained as a lifestyle slave by Mistress Bella Vendetta. In a mixture of confessional videos and training sessions, we are able to witness how a professional dominatrix works and how a slave training program develops. It is a first person narrative confessional porn but, at the same time, it is a precise and clear document of the reality of the lifestyle without missing a beat in taking the spectator into this voyage. The confessional aspect, concentrated on the black and white videos made by Chelsea Poe after the sessions, are as much part of her training as the interaction with Vendetta on screen, since
[confession] is also a ritual that unfolds within a power relationship, for one does not confess without the presence (or virtual presence) of a partner who is not simply the interlocutor but the authority who requires the confession, prescribes and appreciates it, and intervenes in order to judge, punish, forgive, console, and
reconcile. (FOUCAULT, 1990: 61–62)
In the confessional scenes of The Training of Poe, however, we are put into the position of the authority as we follow Poe’s most intimate moments with the camera. The consensual power exchange between slave and mistress fosters environment for our own exchange with what is on screen, since as spectators we dwell between the positions of slave and bystander: evolving as Poe, Chelsea is able to promote our own evolution in the understanding of the dynamics which are developing around her. At the same time, we are granted first row seats into a process of self-deliverance and guidance, a process to which we would have no access unless we were embarking upon it ourselves.
In this aspect, the documentary is unforgiving: it presents the viewers with an explicit and detailed account of a slave’s training without sugar coating or whitewashing it. From the perspective of an outsider, it is like watching a manual unfolding in visual narrative and, at the same time, being given the chance to observe without being asked to express opinion – which is liberating and, at the same time, ensures the partiality needed for “This lesson [which] is certainly a feature of any pornography: the body is recalcitrant; it has desires and appetites that do not necessarily conform to social expectations. (WILLIAMS, 1989: 31)
Aesthetically, the documentary is presented under more natural light, in a rough environment that contrasts with the refinement and careful elaboration of a professionally crafted kink scene. The camera is aware of its role, and even though it sometimes direct interferes with what plays before it, the camera acknowledges that it is there to register, and nothing else. The river scene is outstanding in metaphoring nature meeting a sexuality that is no longer raw and untamed, but catered and nurtured – without losing its wild essence.
I particularly missed Mistress Vendetta's side on the story: to have parallel videos of her talking about her perspective on the training would have enriched this already generous document. Maybe this can be expected for the second part of the movie, still to be released. But it leaves no doubt that The Training of Poe is a landmark in the history of filmed sexualities. In times of walls and bigotry, it is pivotal to have open, honest titles such as this.
Published in January 28, 2017