Viewer Comments
This is not a topic I knew anything about, so I appreciate being informed of its presence. I don’t have much exposure to young women. However it alerted me to the potential for two children in my life who strive for perfection and has placed this possibility in my brain. Thank you for the interesting movie.
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I enjoyed that boys were featured in the movie because I did not really think they self-injured. Thank you for helping bring this issue to the general public and out of the dark.
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Thank you for providing an opportunity to increase awareness about cutting and beginning dialogue. I brought my 14-year-old daughter to the film. She recently began cutting and I am grateful for this film.
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I’m 15 and one of my best friends has recently began cutting, and when she started I was on the phone with her, so now she frequently says, “I don’t wanna be” and we have talked to our counselors about her cutting but our counselors haven’t done a thing, and none of us know what to do because now she does it for fun.
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When I was 18 I had close to 50 piercings, 5 tattoos, and black hair. I was naked lying on a cold table, and scared. Right before the gas caused me to fall asleep, the doctor performing my abortion pointed to the cuts on my arm and asked if they too were part of my “look”.
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Well, I am a cutter and I started when I was 11, and all I wanted was relief and I still cut to this day and I am 13. I burn myself too. It doesn’t hurt me but it hurts the people around me. It is an addiction for me, it is.
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I think the most important point of the film (for me) is that once I found another outlet the need to self-injure was diminished—that need stemmed from feeling disempowered and without access to resources with which to express my identity, much of it had to do with the fact that some identities are not as valued as others. Particularly with adolescent girls, what we look like is more important than how we feel or what we do. If we aren’t the stereotypically ideal child for some reason and without any way to channel our voice it can be very difficult to relieve stress without self injury. Like Shirley Manson, once I joined a band my need sent away on its own. I now feel that my voice is heard in empowering ways and I have come to terms with the fact that different aspects of my identity define me as Other. I now have pride and am without shame.
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What a great film. It was great to hear the stories all the way through. All the people involved gave more weight to the reasons for self-injury. The information shared and the willingness to tell experiences was very enlightening.
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I found the film to be very insightful and something I wish the adults in my life would have seen when I was a teenager.
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Whenever we hear voices that have been suppressed, we come closer to our understanding of the world we live in. Thanks to “CUT” we have heard some teens’ cry for help, and can begin to understand self-injury.
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Beautiful shots, great inclusion of art, music, and poetry. Overall, good flow of info. and introspective interviews.
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I really liked being able to see the mother and daughter. Viewing them first as individual experiences but then tying them together in an inter-connected journey. Thank you for making this topic accessible by not othering/making it seem horrific and distant. I think this would be an incredible film for teachers to see. My mother is a 5th grade teacher and I find that she and her co-workers have a hard time seeing the possibility of issues, such as cutting, in the lives of their students. Thank you!
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As a teacher and a mother, I thank you for putting a new light on a painful subject.
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Revealing, and very exciting. I have a 15 year old whose friend cuts. I wanted more info. This film was riveting. Thank you.
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Excellent film—the best I’ve seen at the festival. I came to the film knowing about cutting indirectly—a friend in college did it and reading a biography about Dusty Springfield. It was great to see “cutters” portrayed as people and not crazy freaks and to know that there are many triggers to this behavior—it’s not black and white in causes and effects. It’s a fantastic film and I hope it can be used to help people who cut. Great interviews, especially those who make it through okay. Great, great film.
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Brave and courageous! A wonderful combination of honest life stories and information on how to offer help. A reminder that everyone feels pain, we are all human and there is comfort to offer each other.
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You’ve done a very fine job of providing voice for those of us who have chosen cutting and/or other self-injurious behavior.
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Had I felt I had power, control or options during my teens and twenties, I might never have used my own blood as my “power over”. I am 40 now, but self-injury continues to be the first idea I’ll consider when I’m sad, frightened, and when I feel power-less. Funny how that never exactly goes away! Better though, the realization that I do have other options at my disposal. Thanks so much!
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In many ‘multiple interview’ format films the focus and/or overall narrative is lost and the viewer loses interest. No such problem with this film. Excellent storytelling and moving testimony were well presented at the same time. A lovely film and eye-opening as well. Congratulations and thank you.
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Amazing variety of storytellers, such different reasoning… amazing music and artwork and poetry, well interspersed. I must write that my scientific curiosity wonders why that bloodletting seemed pleasurable physically. Loved the therapist narration… wonderful sensitivity as to not lay blame. Thanks!! Your amazing humility is one of your greatest gifts/talents.
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This film is very important. I have never seen such an honest depiction of self-harm. As someone who used to cut, it felt good to not be judged by the media for once.
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A tight, cohesive, thoughtful analysis of cutting.
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The teen voices are the real “VOICE” and give it that human touch this topic has been lacking.
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Powerful and aesthetic film. Significant and needed. Show it on PBS. I t needs to be seen by more teens, parents, teachers, and therapists.
