Vivian kills Andre as he fooled them and betrayed her sister, Dorothy. When Vivian sees Andre kissing Renee, she gets infuriated. While Andre is busy performing his sharpshooter act, Vivian grabs the opportunity to end Andre’s life. She shoots Andre and he dies on the spot. Although, the now dead Andre is the villainous type, Vivian is taken to the court as a result of the crime she has committed. The case of
Dorothy & Vivian being questioned by the prosecutor
Dorothy and Vivian is quite unusual and the judge does not have a precedence to make the decision. The prosecutor describes the event in extreme terms as he says “Premeditation and in cold-blood shoot and kill the deceased Andre Pariseau—[Vivian] guilty of murder in the first degree.” At the very beginning, Judge Mitchell highlights the way Vivian is described by the prosecution as a “coldblooded murderess, a woman without a soul.” This shows how people with disabilities are seen as committing atrocities on people without a disability. It reflects the hate and fear of having such people in society. Although, Vivian has committed the murder and is punishable by law, they cannot deprive an innocent Dorothy from her life and liberties. Later, their lawyer argues that when the law has not provided people with disabilities enough protection then why does the law demand extreme penalty to punish them. Even in real life people with disabilities are suppressed due to the cultural and social barriers created by society which marginalizes them even more (Knoll, 2009).
Knoll, K.R. (2009). “Feminist Disability Studies Pedagogy. Feminist Teacher, 19(2), 122-133. doi: 10.1353/ftr.0.0031
Bodies of Film Project 