Handless Maidens: Grimm Tales in Contemporary Cinema
Sexual abuse of children was not so much discovered in the mid-twentieth century as exposed and, for the first time, repudiated. For many centuries, possibly since the dawn of time, men have sexually abused little girls and young women. Perhaps they have also done this to boys, but we don’t see the evidence of it in fairy tale and myth the way we do for girls, for whom it is almost, if myths are to be believed, a rite of passage. Many stories now considered children’s fare were originally transmitted as code around a campfire, and later in parlor and salon, to convey “truths” that acculturate and perpetuate patriarchal society.
In The Feminine in Fairy Tales (Boston, Shambhala, 1993), Marie-Louise von Franz[1] makes a comprehensive study of “The Handless Maiden” also called “The Girl Without Hands,” as recounted by the Brothers Grimm, as well as several other versions, including a Russian one. In all of them, a young woman is rendered helpless by the father, representing patriarchal culture, who “cuts off her hands,” thereby refusing to recognize the feminine and value it in the daughter as a part of himself. Beneath the Christian overlay of the eighteenth century Grimm version, the tale explains how the young woman must go deeply into her own unconscious in order to take care of herself and, in Jungian terms, become individuated.
“The Handles Maiden” appears to have inspired two recent Australian-directed films. The first is The Piano, directed by Jane Campion, 1993, which won the prestigious Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and starred Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel, Sam Neill, and Anna Paquin. The second is Niki Caro’s North Country, 2005, starring Charlize Theron (nominated for Best Actress, Academy Awards) and Frances McDormand (nominated for Best Supporting Actress, Academy Awards), with Sissy Spacek, Woody Harrelson,andSean Bean.
Before getting into the films and what they offer contemporary cinema-goers, it is useful to have the text of ‘The Handless Maiden.”[2] For a comprehensive Jungian analysis, space limitations require that I recommend the von Franz and Robert A. Johnson (see note 1, above) discussions.[3] I will, however, after quoting the tale itself, offer a brief cognitive interpretation central to my analysis of the films.
