Descent (2007 film)

Maya is an upcoming artist and college student. In the winter of her senior year, Maya attends a fraternity party and meets a student named Jared, a blond, white jock, who immediately starts courting her using all his eloquence behind which there is nothing but lies. Seduced by his lies, she accepts his invitation to dinner at a restaurant, then goes to his apartment, just to talk. They start to make out, but when Maya tells him to stop, Jared soon reveals his true self and rapes her while uttering dehumanizing, racial slurs in her ear.

Over the next year, Maya's personality changes. She becomes quiet and withdrawn, graduating from college and taking a job at a clothing store. She disconnects herself from society and other familiar surroundings while struggling to break free of the resulting depression and addiction. At night, she's someone else: a beauty at the nightclub scene, dancing, seductive, sniffing cocaine. Maya later meets and seeks out the help of a DJ she meets at a club, named Adrian, whom she confides in.

Maya becomes Teachers Aide to a class Jared is in. One day, she catches him cheating on an exam and threatens to report it, but instead uses it as an opportunity to lure Jared to her apartment. Jared willingly complies. She manages to get her revenge against Jared by handcuffing him to her bed and blindfolding him. She starts talking to him and the topic turns dark, which Jared seems to notice. She then brings up the assault and begins to cry. Jared tries to reassure her but this only angers her, so she gags him. She then anally rapes him with an object for a couple of minutes and says many of the same things that Jared said to her as he screams and writhes around. This causes Jared to become physically aroused and ejaculate.

After this, Maya then allows Adrian to rape Jared for several minutes. He taunts Jared psychologically for becoming once again physically aroused by the assault and "making a mess" over himself. Adrian echoes the slurs Jared said to Maya. As Jared gives up struggling against Adrian's assault and goes slack, Adrian then asks Maya if "everything's alright now." She turns to Adrian and is seen to be crying, possibly indicating that this has not truly helped her get over what happened to her. This is further implied when Maya thinks to herself, "I need to get over it. I know it, and I will". The movie then ends as the screen fades black.

• Rosario Dawson as Maya
• Chad Faust as Jared
• Marcus Patrick as Adrian
• James A. Stephens as Professor Byron
• Vanessa Ferlito as Bodega Girl
• Tracie Thoms as Denise
• Alexie Gilmore as Seline
• Jonathan Tchaikovsky as Tyler
• Phoebe Strole as Innocent Girl
• Nicole Vicius as Melanie
• Scott Bailey as Upstairs Guy

Descent was released in two alternate cuts: a 105-minute uncut NC-17 rated version and a 95-minute R-rated version. The notable difference between the two is that the edited release omits about seven minutes of the second rape scene.^[2] The film was co-produced by Dawson and Morris S. Levy, a Jewish American film production company owner based in Great Neck, New York.