Cool Hands, Warm Heart 1979

Directed by Su Friedrich

The film begins with a series of events on a crowded outdoor market street. Women on stages perform "private" rituals: shaving legs and armpits, fixing their hair, etc. A woman tries to disrupt their "work." She struggles to set herself apart from them, to resist the forces of habit, but gradually becomes more involved than she is willing to admit. Although she sets in motion a chain reaction of rebellion, she isn't able to keep the momentum going. She stops before carrying it to the logical conclusion, and ends up on the stage herself. Can we hold a knife without stabbing ourselves? Can we hold a knife without even thinking of doing that? And do we need knives?