The first 70 seconds of the Swallow trailer tells a familiar story: bored housewife Hunter gets pregnant, her husband’s family doesn’t think she’s good enough for him, etc. Then things take an offbeat turn, as Hunter, played by Haley Bennett (The Girl on the Train), picks up a marble and… swallows it. It doesn’t stop there: she also ingests a tack (seems like a bad idea!), a paperclip, and chess pieces, among other household objects.
“How does it make you feel when you swallow something?” a therapist asks. “I just like the textures in my mouth,” Hunter responds. It made my feel in control.” The way I feel in control is by NOT ordering popcorn while watching Swallow, thank you very much, even if the trailer ends with Hunter sitting on the couch eating cheese balls. That’s more like it!
Here’s the official plot synopsis:
On the surface, Hunter appears to have it all. A newly pregnant housewife, she seems content to spend her time tending to an immaculate home and doting on her Ken-doll husband, Richie. However, as the pressure to meet her controlling in-laws and husband’s rigid expectations mounts, cracks begin to appear in her carefully created facade. Hunter develops a dangerous habit, and a dark secret from her past seeps out in the form of a disorder called pica – a condition that has her compulsively swallowing inedible, and oftentimes life-threatening, objects. A provocative and squirm-inducing psychological thriller, Swallow follows one woman’s unraveling as she struggles to reclaim independence in the face of an oppressive system by whatever means possible.
Written and directed by Carlo Mirabella-Davis, Swallow, which also stars Austin Stowell, Elizabeth Marvel, David Rasche and Denis O’Hare, opens on March 6.
