SYNOPSIS
Three women, all strangers to each other, meet in a dress boutique. One of the three is approached by the male proprietor as she is shoplifting a garment. When he approaches her, the other two join her in beating the man to death. Other female shoppers ignore the whole situation and leave when the crime is complete. The court appoints a female psychiatrist to examine the women; contrary to public opinion the psychiatrist finds they are not insane but implies the rage expressed by the crime is a result of the male dominated society. An interesting study of extreme behavior. The prisoner\'s cells were a revelation.
 

PROGRAM NOTE

 Marleen GORRIS’s first feature Question of Silence has since become a feminist film classic. Three completely normal women commit a murder which seems to have no motive. This murder along with their inexplicable silence depicts the powerful anguish of women towards male oppression of women from diverse sectors of life. A housewife, a secretary and a waitress beat the owner of a clothing store to death. The three women, excluded and discriminated even within their own social field, express their anger through the extreme means of murder. The other women customers quietly leave the store when everything is over. Each of the three women is arrested in turn. Though the court brings in a psychiatrist to evaluate the mental state of these women, the women hold their silence. The other women who were shopping in the clothes store during the murder arrive in court. Without a word, the women exchange glances and then burst into laughter. The finale points to the great potential for solidarity among women as the last scene of women laughing at a courtroom dominated by men slyly mocks patriarchy. Now, the question of silence becomes a question of laughter. (Lim Sung-min)