Not a Pretty Picture (1976) review

Coolidge, in her narrative directorial debut, brings together several actors and actresses, including Michele Manenti (to play her at age 16) and Jim Carrington (to be a stand-in for her then 21-year-old "boyfriend"), to "reenact" a life-altering incident in which she was date raped, and she encourages her performers to discuss their own feelings doing the scenes.  I'm generally leery about movies that act as a personal "therapy session" for the filmmaker, but I think an exception can be made for this, since it's trying to provide commentary on a subject many wouldn't imagine covering (and is still unfortunately relevant): while the "dramatic re-enactments" do come across like an amateurish after-school special, the section in which Carrington forces himself on Manenti (the camera repeatedly turns to Coolidge to check her reaction) is extremely uncomfortable to watch, even though "we," the audience, know it's a "controlled environment."  Recently, there was a "topic" on social media in which women "debated" whether they'd feel safer in the woods with a man or a bear, and an alarming number chose the bear ... which sounds totally ridiculous, but it highlights the apparent terror females feel towards men in general, as if the majority of us are a pack of insatiable deviants.