Confetti Harvest - Capturing The Feeling Of Dread In 2 Different Ways
Posted: Sun Dec 15, 2024 5:12 am
Franca Treur, a Dutch author, wrote a book in 2010 titled 'Dorsvloer vol Confetti' which was made into a 2014 film titled 'Confetti Harvest'. The full, unedited film is available on YouTube at the time of this post.
In both versions, the girl (about 12-13) is caught at a carnival she was forbidden from attending with her older brother (age ~17). As punishment, she is sentenced to a spanking from her father.
In the book, the actual punishment is not depicted... but the feeling of hopelessness and impending humiliation is. The following is from page 159-160 and is a rough translation from Dutch to English:
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A few days later it turns out that they were spotted at the fair by Kee Dommisse's daughter, who had only walked past to go to and from the car, which was parked at Tref. She had seen them get out of one of those 'turning things' with those 'flashing lights' and they had looked 'terribly ill'. The news had already been all over the village before it reached the mother via the grandmother.
'Katelijne,' the mother says sternly, and she grabs Katelijne by the cheek as if she wants to squeeze it. 'Suppose something had happened. Do you think you could have appeared before the Lord in such a place?'
Katelijne thinks of the cloudless sky. Indeed, it could easily have been the last day.
'What else have you been up to?' the mother asks suspiciously.
‘Nothing,’ says Katelijne.
‘I don’t want everyone to think that my house is going to grow up for the gallows and the wheel,’ she says. She gave them a good upbringing and they shouldn’t pretend that they didn’t learn anything at home. She says it in the same voice she uses to talk about Negroes, when she claims that they don’t work hard because they don’t think beyond today.
‘And you lied too. You said that you would have come straight away, but you went and screwed up the whole thing.’
Katelijne looks at the wall behind her, which is white with speckles.
‘I’ll ask your father if he’ll give you a spanking. You should feel it. And don't look so rude.'
Katelijne's eyes drop to the skirting boards, to the scratches from the wax crayons that are still there from when she was little. She keeps grinning. She can't help it. If she doesn't, she'll burst into tears.
'I said you're going to give them a spanking,' the mother says to the father, 'because if I put them over my knee, they'll laugh.' That's true. Mother is big and strong, but she can't give a good spanking, at least not like the father can. He has a trick for that; he's also good with a hammer.
'Fine,' says the father. 'But I'm going to eat first.'
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And that's how the chapter ends. I think this is brilliantly written. The family is obviously very religious and they have a conservative philosophy on retribution and penitence. The girl has been caught lying, and this is a major act of misbehavior in the eyes of her mother, as she says she's asking her father to spank her because she "should feel it." In other words, she deserves a punishment that will be significantly painful.
The film depicts this next part but in the book it's not specified: she must look at her mom when she says her father will spank her because her mom says "don't look so rude". She must then grasp the seriousness of what is going to happen and look down at the floor forcing herself to grin because if she doesn't she knows she will start crying.
She must be very afraid of her father handling the punishment because "he has a trick for" giving a painful spanking. She says he is also good with a hammer which might imply he is going to use an implement.
As if it isn't torturous enough for her to wait knowing this is going to happen when her father returns, she has to wait even longer while he eats his food, knowing that her shameful punishment is coming and there's nothing she can do about it.
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It's interesting that the book mentions the dad is good with a hammer because I think it implies he uses a belt or paddle or something. In the film, after the girl is sentenced to the spanking, it cuts directly to the punishment which I would argue is even worse than originally imagined.
She is over her father's knee with her skirt raised up and panties pulled down to her ankles while he gives her an old fashioned bare bottom spanking by hand like a little kid, and to take the punishment up several notches to outright semi-public humiliation, her older brother is watching... although he is next in line and clearly finds the experience in no way enjoyable. To be clear, there is no nudity on screen during this scene.
The spanking appears to be painful but not excruciating. The girl's face exhibits her immense embarrassment as her father's open hand smacks her bare ass in front of her brother who is someone she seeks the admiration of. I believe this was a deliberate part of the punishment. These aren't small, prepubescent little kids anymore. They didn't have to spank her in front of her brother, and if they did they didn't have to expose her naked lower half to his eyes.
The mom and dad knew this would cause the girl massive embarrassment. It might have been a simple byproduct of the punishment routine, but it seems to me it was deliberately enforced while maintaining modesty by keeping her genitals covered. This could not have been done the other way around. By the way, after the spanking concludes she takes a pained and humiliated look at her brother as she redresses before running off to cry. The father reluctantly motions for the young man to approach and his son obeys. The scene cuts before his pants, and presumably his underwear, are taken down.
I wonder, if the girl wanted to stay and watch the punishment, would she have been allowed to? With the young man, baring his bottom would also fully reveal his front which would basically be the genitals of a grown man. I don't think a conservative religious family would allow this, but that speaks to my surprise that a 12 year old girl was given a bare bottom spanking in front of one of her brothers. I am also curious about exactly how the boy's spanking went. It appears it will also be given by hand on his bare bottom.
To me, to a teenage boy of about 17, this cannot be significantly painful, which leads me to believe the punishment is indeed about submission and humiliation. Children young as 10 years old report feeling too old to be given an over the knee bare bottom hand spanking. Imagine how it feels for a 17 year old. I have to give props to him for accepting his fate and cooperating. Unlike his sister, he is big enough that he would not have to submit to such a shameful punishment if he really didn't want to.
There is a stark difference between the method the book uses and the method the film uses to depict the same feeling of dread. The book depicts knowing you are going to be punished with pain and shame and there's nothing you can do about it but stare at the floor and wait for your dad to finish his food to get it over with. The film depicts the actual humiliation and embarrassment of the punishment itself with the addition of an opposite sex witness despite the requirement that the girl's underwear be taken down, indicating that the parents believe blushing is an important part of a child's retribution. The difference is I don't think the father in the film wants to be doing this at all, while the father in the book seems more to believe it's his parental duty... but I'm relying on amateur translation to English in order to make that conclusion.
My final thought on this subject is the film actually does briefly depict the dread and helplessness the girl feels knowing what is going to happen to her. As I mentioned before, when her mother sentences her to a spanking by her father, the book doesn't say it but the film shows this immediately gets her attention, and you can clearly see the fear in her eyes. When she tells her daughter "you should feel it" she involuntarily blinks in fear. She stares her mother down with faux-toughness... it's really a look to see if her mother is serious and a way of silently begging for mercy. No such luck: the mom reprimands her not to look so rude like in the book, and she looks down at the ground with a brilliant sheepish look of fear and shame. Her fate is sealed. It's at this point as she stares at the ground you see her coming to terms with the reality of her humiliating fate, though she turns her head away from her mother so she can't see.
She shoots one more quick resentful glare at her mother but she knows she's going over her dad's knee and there's nothing she can do about it but try and act tough. Just one more element of the dread in this scene, a female family friend is in the room during all this and witnesses her being sentenced. They make eye contact, and it's clear the girl's tough face is fooling nobody. The older girl knows as well as she does that the impending spanking will not only be painful, but very embarrassing at 12 years of age. At this point, the film cuts to the spanking scene.
The girl is an outstanding actress. The way she tries to act tough, but when her mother confirms her impending punishment she stares at the ground with such helplessness, powerless to do anything about it and with the knowledge that she did indeed lie to her parents... and now as a result she is going to suffer the humiliation of a bare bottom spanking by her father's hand in front of her brother. That face as she stares at the ground away from her mother says so much with no words at all.
The full unedited film of Confetti Harvest is on YouTube with English subtitles you can turn on. The scene I have been describing begins at the 43 minute mark. I would love to hear other people's thoughts. Do you prefer the way this dread and shame was depicted in the book or the film?
In both versions, the girl (about 12-13) is caught at a carnival she was forbidden from attending with her older brother (age ~17). As punishment, she is sentenced to a spanking from her father.
In the book, the actual punishment is not depicted... but the feeling of hopelessness and impending humiliation is. The following is from page 159-160 and is a rough translation from Dutch to English:
------------------------------------
A few days later it turns out that they were spotted at the fair by Kee Dommisse's daughter, who had only walked past to go to and from the car, which was parked at Tref. She had seen them get out of one of those 'turning things' with those 'flashing lights' and they had looked 'terribly ill'. The news had already been all over the village before it reached the mother via the grandmother.
'Katelijne,' the mother says sternly, and she grabs Katelijne by the cheek as if she wants to squeeze it. 'Suppose something had happened. Do you think you could have appeared before the Lord in such a place?'
Katelijne thinks of the cloudless sky. Indeed, it could easily have been the last day.
'What else have you been up to?' the mother asks suspiciously.
‘Nothing,’ says Katelijne.
‘I don’t want everyone to think that my house is going to grow up for the gallows and the wheel,’ she says. She gave them a good upbringing and they shouldn’t pretend that they didn’t learn anything at home. She says it in the same voice she uses to talk about Negroes, when she claims that they don’t work hard because they don’t think beyond today.
‘And you lied too. You said that you would have come straight away, but you went and screwed up the whole thing.’
Katelijne looks at the wall behind her, which is white with speckles.
‘I’ll ask your father if he’ll give you a spanking. You should feel it. And don't look so rude.'
Katelijne's eyes drop to the skirting boards, to the scratches from the wax crayons that are still there from when she was little. She keeps grinning. She can't help it. If she doesn't, she'll burst into tears.
'I said you're going to give them a spanking,' the mother says to the father, 'because if I put them over my knee, they'll laugh.' That's true. Mother is big and strong, but she can't give a good spanking, at least not like the father can. He has a trick for that; he's also good with a hammer.
'Fine,' says the father. 'But I'm going to eat first.'
---------------------------------------
And that's how the chapter ends. I think this is brilliantly written. The family is obviously very religious and they have a conservative philosophy on retribution and penitence. The girl has been caught lying, and this is a major act of misbehavior in the eyes of her mother, as she says she's asking her father to spank her because she "should feel it." In other words, she deserves a punishment that will be significantly painful.
The film depicts this next part but in the book it's not specified: she must look at her mom when she says her father will spank her because her mom says "don't look so rude". She must then grasp the seriousness of what is going to happen and look down at the floor forcing herself to grin because if she doesn't she knows she will start crying.
She must be very afraid of her father handling the punishment because "he has a trick for" giving a painful spanking. She says he is also good with a hammer which might imply he is going to use an implement.
As if it isn't torturous enough for her to wait knowing this is going to happen when her father returns, she has to wait even longer while he eats his food, knowing that her shameful punishment is coming and there's nothing she can do about it.
--------------------------
It's interesting that the book mentions the dad is good with a hammer because I think it implies he uses a belt or paddle or something. In the film, after the girl is sentenced to the spanking, it cuts directly to the punishment which I would argue is even worse than originally imagined.
She is over her father's knee with her skirt raised up and panties pulled down to her ankles while he gives her an old fashioned bare bottom spanking by hand like a little kid, and to take the punishment up several notches to outright semi-public humiliation, her older brother is watching... although he is next in line and clearly finds the experience in no way enjoyable. To be clear, there is no nudity on screen during this scene.
The spanking appears to be painful but not excruciating. The girl's face exhibits her immense embarrassment as her father's open hand smacks her bare ass in front of her brother who is someone she seeks the admiration of. I believe this was a deliberate part of the punishment. These aren't small, prepubescent little kids anymore. They didn't have to spank her in front of her brother, and if they did they didn't have to expose her naked lower half to his eyes.
The mom and dad knew this would cause the girl massive embarrassment. It might have been a simple byproduct of the punishment routine, but it seems to me it was deliberately enforced while maintaining modesty by keeping her genitals covered. This could not have been done the other way around. By the way, after the spanking concludes she takes a pained and humiliated look at her brother as she redresses before running off to cry. The father reluctantly motions for the young man to approach and his son obeys. The scene cuts before his pants, and presumably his underwear, are taken down.
I wonder, if the girl wanted to stay and watch the punishment, would she have been allowed to? With the young man, baring his bottom would also fully reveal his front which would basically be the genitals of a grown man. I don't think a conservative religious family would allow this, but that speaks to my surprise that a 12 year old girl was given a bare bottom spanking in front of one of her brothers. I am also curious about exactly how the boy's spanking went. It appears it will also be given by hand on his bare bottom.
To me, to a teenage boy of about 17, this cannot be significantly painful, which leads me to believe the punishment is indeed about submission and humiliation. Children young as 10 years old report feeling too old to be given an over the knee bare bottom hand spanking. Imagine how it feels for a 17 year old. I have to give props to him for accepting his fate and cooperating. Unlike his sister, he is big enough that he would not have to submit to such a shameful punishment if he really didn't want to.
There is a stark difference between the method the book uses and the method the film uses to depict the same feeling of dread. The book depicts knowing you are going to be punished with pain and shame and there's nothing you can do about it but stare at the floor and wait for your dad to finish his food to get it over with. The film depicts the actual humiliation and embarrassment of the punishment itself with the addition of an opposite sex witness despite the requirement that the girl's underwear be taken down, indicating that the parents believe blushing is an important part of a child's retribution. The difference is I don't think the father in the film wants to be doing this at all, while the father in the book seems more to believe it's his parental duty... but I'm relying on amateur translation to English in order to make that conclusion.
My final thought on this subject is the film actually does briefly depict the dread and helplessness the girl feels knowing what is going to happen to her. As I mentioned before, when her mother sentences her to a spanking by her father, the book doesn't say it but the film shows this immediately gets her attention, and you can clearly see the fear in her eyes. When she tells her daughter "you should feel it" she involuntarily blinks in fear. She stares her mother down with faux-toughness... it's really a look to see if her mother is serious and a way of silently begging for mercy. No such luck: the mom reprimands her not to look so rude like in the book, and she looks down at the ground with a brilliant sheepish look of fear and shame. Her fate is sealed. It's at this point as she stares at the ground you see her coming to terms with the reality of her humiliating fate, though she turns her head away from her mother so she can't see.
She shoots one more quick resentful glare at her mother but she knows she's going over her dad's knee and there's nothing she can do about it but try and act tough. Just one more element of the dread in this scene, a female family friend is in the room during all this and witnesses her being sentenced. They make eye contact, and it's clear the girl's tough face is fooling nobody. The older girl knows as well as she does that the impending spanking will not only be painful, but very embarrassing at 12 years of age. At this point, the film cuts to the spanking scene.
The girl is an outstanding actress. The way she tries to act tough, but when her mother confirms her impending punishment she stares at the ground with such helplessness, powerless to do anything about it and with the knowledge that she did indeed lie to her parents... and now as a result she is going to suffer the humiliation of a bare bottom spanking by her father's hand in front of her brother. That face as she stares at the ground away from her mother says so much with no words at all.
The full unedited film of Confetti Harvest is on YouTube with English subtitles you can turn on. The scene I have been describing begins at the 43 minute mark. I would love to hear other people's thoughts. Do you prefer the way this dread and shame was depicted in the book or the film?
