Arrows, which we have chosen to screen during OVni, is the debut film by Sandra Lahire (1984). It treats film as a body—as “skin,” according to philosopher Laura U. Marks—and blends live-action footage with animation to evoke the experience of anorexia, a recurring theme in her work. “I am so aware of my body,” we hear in the soundtrack, as images of caged birds intertwine with those of the ribcage of the film’s protagonist—the director herself.

The pressures on women to be thin are highlighted by the depiction of a surgical technique for fat removal. The recurring motif of cages, bars, and railroad tracks reinforces the sense of confinement. The film ends with a poem by Sylvia Plath, “The Thin People,” which evokes those who starve themselves and those who are truly deprived of food—a powerful closing note that firmly anchors the condition of anorexia within Western patriarchal culture.