Nat Laurel

Kate Winslet in The Dressmaker (2015)

Watched The Dressmaker (2015) with Kate Winslet last Saturday.  I found Winslet character, Tilly Dunnage  to serve a perfect   example of an ancient Greek  myth of Persephone, goddess of vegetation, youth and queen of the underworld. There is a school in psychology that uses Greek gods as archetypes that shape our lives. I adhere to it because of the aesthetic value of the classic painting and sculpture that can be used as references,  it  provides.

Modern women with the leading Persephone archetype find the very process of  transformation, healing and reconciling with their past  is what gives their life a sense of purpose and meaning.  A well balanced Persephone will lead by example and inspire others to embark on their soul searching journey.  Which is exactly what is happening in this comedy-drama movie produced and shot by Jocelyn Moorhouse.

Tilly gets backs to her hometown in Austraila to reconcile with her estranged mother. Twenty years ago she had been kicked out  and forced into boarding school far away from her place of birth.  She is now back as an accomplished Parisian designer.   In order for a woman to excel at fashion and design she also needs two other Greek deities to be present in her:  an Aphrodite,  responsible for love of the human body and creativity and Athena, the goddess of logic and strategy.  Greeks revered Athena as a The perseverance to fight injustice may also come from either Athena or Artemis.

I  personally found the traces of the Persephone’s myth in the film one of the most engaging.   The film also sports the interpretation of the  politically incorrect myth about the abduction of Persephone by Hades.

When Teddy drags  Tilly to the secluded corner behind the buildings  and presses her against the wall in the most disturbing way, he basically makes her go back to the day of the tragic event and has her remember what really happened that day. By revisiting the events that had taken place twenty five years ago she is finally able to understand what happened and  forgive herself.    This type of journey into a dark recess of the soul is pretty much a prerogative of a man with the strong Hades archetype. A woman with the leading Persephone  may  get it through professional  therapy or in a relationship with him, or both.  This type of experience, that the modern culture perceives as a mere abuse, may turn  therapeutic and much needed for a lot of women and men.  My Fair Lady (1964) with Audrey Classic and Rex Harrison  is another cinematic interpretation of the Hades and Persephone myth.

Sometimes two people may experience a Persephone and Hades myth  just by tapping into these two archetypes. May be a  life experience has lead them to the point at which they play out “the abduction” myth.  By doing this they revisit traumatic experiences in the past and make peace with it.  Yet others find Hades and Persephone myth shaping their lives. The Power Exchange couples usually have these two Greek gods strong presence in their psyche.  The woman can find herself living the  myth of the Persephone in which she spends part of the year in the underworld, being the queen of the dead and Hades wife. As she goes back to the  human world  she  brings Spring along with her.

Please refer to  the full version of Greek Archetypes by an American psychiatrist, Jean Sinoda Bolen, MD for more infromation.  Her books “Gods in Everyman” and “Goddesses in Everywoman”  were published in the 1980s. In my blog  I use her system as a framework  to explore matters of sex and relationship in a non-judgemental, kink-aware polyamory friendly way.   This is my personal perspective of  an introvert and a keen observer.