DİSGRACE

David Lurie is our leading actor. He teaches the Romantic poets at the University of Cape Town and
met Melanie. He offers her a ride home in the rain and she accepts. In this way, there starts a
relationship between them. They have a sex but Melanie is disturbed and run away from his teacher
David. He phsycologically tired Melanie by chasing. He fond of masculine desires and everything he
did is because of it. There's a scene where he faces a university disciplinary board; the board obviously
hopes to avoid scandal and offers him a graceful exit. He cheekily tells them he is guilty, accepts
blame, requests punishment. After losing his job, David goes to live with his lesbian daughter, Lucy,
who lives alone in Africa.
His daughter raises dogs on her land and earns her living by farming. Also, Petrus, a man David
doesn't warm too much, lives on Lucy's terrain. Because of this, David has a deep sense of territorial
dispute and feels that his daughter is not safe with Petrus. Then one day, when they come from the
center, they see 3 young men provoking their dogs in front of their house. They want to use Lucy's
phone and Lucy says she will help them. When one of them enters the house with Lucy, the other two
make swoon David with a blow. Lucy is raped by the three of them, and David can't help his daughter.
When David wakes up, it is too late for everything, the men have killed the dogs, stolen his car.
Moreover, they poured gasoline on David and tried to burn him alive.
After the events, Lucy stubbornly does not complain them to the police and David resents this. When
he sees one of the men, he tries to bring justice himself, but one of them is Peter's nephew. Because
she doesn't want trouble, Lucy sends her father away. Also, Lucy admits that those men had raped him
before and now she is pregnant with one of them. She is determined to raise the child. So she proposes
to Petrus to be his third wife, thinking that she will be safe under his protection. David needs to get
away from here too and goes to see Melanie's play, and apologizes to Melanie's family for everything
he does. At the end of the movie, David returns to Africa, Lucy is now a mother close to giving birth.

Characters

David Lurie
• David Lurie is a stubborn and proud man.
• He is womanizer ,casanova.
• See herself better than others.
• He is a good father who loves his daughter.
• David tends to be good.

Lucy Lurie
• She is lesbian
• Lucy is more mature, reasonable, responsible and practical than her father.
• She bears her rape and baby with grace.
(“In another time, in another place it might be held to be a public matter. But in this place, at this time,
it is not. It is my business, mine alone.")
 • Lucy follows her inner moral compass.
She is merciful and ready to be a good mom.

Melanie Isaacs
• Drama student
• Attractive
• Timid
• Cares literature
• Victim of sexual abuse
(Melanie is one of the first characters to display feelings of true shame
and personal disgrace, and it is also because of his desire of her that David himself becomes
disgraced.)

Petrus
Petrus is arrogant
He is ambitious
At the same time, he gives importance to his family
(One of the men who rape Lucy is his wife's niece so he protecting his family.)
Xhosa patriarch

Themes
• Feminism
• Rape
• Desire and Power
• Shame, Remorse, and Vanity
• Violence and Empathy
• Love and Support
• Time and Change
• Sexual abuse
• Love
• Racial Dynamics of South Africa
• Family issues
 Sexual Abuse
• The women in the movie are male-dominated victims, but when we look at Melanie, she
makes Lurie pay for what she's done, while Lucy pretends the disrespect towards her never
happened. While Melanie is ashamed of what she's been through, Lucy takes it virtuously.
When Melanie's boyfriend finds out about the matter, he takes action and tries to protect
Melanie. Likewise, David seeks justice, but upon Lucy's insistence, he sees it personally and
leaves her alone. What happens to Lucy causes David to realize what he's done to Melanie.
And he sincerely apologizes to Melanie's family. Although Lucy is tired of male domination,
she agrees to come under a man's protection by contradicting herself. Melanie and Lucy are
similar in this respect because they both hope to take advantage of what they're running from.
The rape is a violent, hate-filled act. Although they are strangers, it is described as "personal."
Lucy makes the critical decision not to report the rape because to her it is a private matter. She
also realizes that in the context of modern South Africa, no true justice will be served.

Duygu Şahin
192631040
Sena Nur Doğru
192631038
Süleyman Özcan
192631042