Something Must Break

Ester Bergsmark's Something Must Break distinguishes itself from other romance films in how it not just includes but reclaims and reappropriates the element of filth. Imagery of pollution, toxicity, contamination, and bodily fluids are omnipresent throughout the film. The aestheticized abject imagery creates “a cinematic world [characterized] as uniquely reflective of trans embodiment”.^[4][5] Something Must Break explores in filth the potential of a uniquely trans world-making, one that does not seek to conform or assimilate to what is considered pure and natural by cisheteronormative standards, but one that redefines the terms altogether, and in which the “impure” becomes a space of vulnerability, transformation and intimacy.

The representation of filth in the film can be divided into two categories: contaminated environment and contaminated body.

Something Must Break positions trans bodies in contaminated environments — polluted ponds, garbage dumps, and bathrooms. These spaces are marginalized, on the periphery of society, hidden from sight to “remove the threat of toxic contamination,” ultimately creating the illusion that society can be cleansed of its waste.^[4] These contaminated environments are parallel to the trans body. The trans body is equally marginalized, decentralized, and is a threat of “contamination” to the dominant society.^[4][6] Moreover, the common narrative of the transgender experience often focuses on a beginning and an end — a before and after, where “after” is assimilation into the cisheteronormative society.^[7] Similarly to the contaminated environment, there is the illusion that society can be cleansed of the contaminated trans body, in this case through assimilation.

However, in Something Must Break, Bergsmark challenges these narratives by displacing the centre and the periphery. They propose a vantage point from which “new images and stories can emerge,” one that centralizes marginalized bodies in marginalized spaces.^[7] No longer an anomaly to be examined in reference to the cisgender body, the trans body can flourish. The trans body becomes its own, whole being, and trans itself becomes “the process through which beingness and thingness are constituted [...] [ — ] the with, through, of, in, and across that make life possible”.^[6] Therefore, the contaminated environment becomes a “[site] of creation and possibility” for the trans body.^[4]

Furthermore, in Something Must Break, it is in the contaminated environment that “the ‘unnaturalness’ of the gender non-conforming body and Sebastian and Andreas's confused relationship finds shelter”.^[4] Near the beginning of the film, Sebastian/Ellie's voice-under echoes this sentiment: “In the darkness, amongst the shadows, is where I am free. Is where I can breathe” (0:05:21). In the marginalized, peripheral spaces, Sebastian/Ellie finds refuge from the codes, norms, and structures of the dominant society. Similarly, in these spaces, Sebastian/Ellie and Andreas can explore unimpeded intimacy. For example, the couple ventures into a forest and bathes naked in a secluded pond. They playfully splash each other until coming together for a passionate kiss. Unlike other romance films with similar scenes, in Something Must Break, Sebastian/Ellie and Andreas’ enchanted oasis is a polluted pond, with litter scattered among the landscape and a concrete sewer conduit in the background.^[8] In this way, the trans body, submerged in the contaminated environment, “offers itself to the idea of pollution as a space of world-making, to an intimacy with and among other Others,” and the contaminated environment “becomes a space of intimate, vibrant entanglements. [...] A space of connection with otherness, of proximity to other discarded beings and things”.^[6]

The contaminated body is foremost represented by the trans body, itself “framed as a threat to cisheteronormative future generations via genetic contamination”.^[9] In the history of the Western world, the trans body has been medicalized and pathologized, viewed as deviant, perverted, contaminated, and mentally ill.^[4][6][9] Researcher Wibke Straube, referencing the story of Leslie Feinberg — a trans activist and historian who suffered from Lyme disease for over three decades, but who did not receive proper treatment until the last few years of their life —, attributes to the trans body the notion of the unloved Other: “ the one that seems disposable, possibly even killable”.^[9] In Something Must Break, the portrayal of the unloved Other, the trans body, subverts its very definition. Sebastian/Ellie is entirely non-disposable, given that their character is the central point of the film. Moreover, Sebastian/Ellie's contaminated body and the pleasure it receives are repeatedly shown in their full expression, and are also at the origin of queer connection. Most notably, in the scene leading up to Sebastian/Ellie and Andreas’ first sexual encounter, Andreas suggests they check each other for ticks. Andreas explores Sebastian/Ellie's naked body, including their genitals, with genuine curiosity. Both the trans body and the tick, itself a contaminated body and unloved Other, become catalysts for “queer intimacy, and new ways of being in the world”.^[7]

Something Must Break further represents the contaminated body through the aestheticization of bodily fluids. Bodily fluids — waste, contaminants that are released from the body — are often portrayed in the film in the context of sex. Particularly, in the back room of a sex club, Sebastian/Ellie is shown among two other men enjoying kinky sex, including piss play. This highly stylized scene reminds the viewer of religious imagery and Renaissance paintings. In doing so, Something Must Break subverts the Western society's conception of purity (religion) through the sanctification and beautification of the abject.^[4] Bodily fluids and the contaminated body transform into new images of beauty and pleasure.

Furthermore, in Something Must Break, there is a constant association between bodily fluids and intimacy. In a voice-under, Sebastian/Ellie states, “Spit at me. Hit me. Piss in my mouth if it'll make you love me” (0:06:47). In a similar way, bodily fluids play a critical role in the development of Sebastian/Ellie and Andreas’ relationship: Andreas’ blood is the first souvenir Sebastian/Ellie keeps of their relationship… They next meet while urinating… Andreas’ vomit prompts Sebastian/Ellie to introduce themself… Engaging in knife play, Andreas’ blood is the result of sexual excitement, exploration, and desire… Therefore, bodily fluids, in this context, “embody an opening-up, a vulnerability, a becoming that molds new forms of relationships, new forms of love”.^[4]

• Something Must Break at IMDb
• Something Must Break at Rotten Tomatoes