Hi-8 Video, Color, 42 Minutes, 1992

A History of Pain is an experimental narrative about the horrors of the Spanish Inquisition and how it still permeates our current psychosexual cultural milieu. A modern-day tale of ancient torture techniques, it's written and directed by Michelle Handelman and produced by Handelman and Monte Cazazza.

In 1985 Amnesty International, a group working for the rights of torture victims, staged a major exhibition called Inquisition: Torture Instruments from the Middle Ages until the Industrial Era. The exhibit toured throughout Europe and while on display in Rome, Italy the vaginal pear, a device used for the mutilation of women's genitals, was stolen. The pear has never been recovered and this video takes off from that incident.

Our lead character, Peel, finds herself trying to solve the mystery of the stolen torture device amidst a background of mandatory drug testing, S/M erotica, art censorship and flashbacks from the middle ages. She's pissed-off and angry with the state of the world.

The supporting characters range from a sleazy gynecologist to a sexy lesbian lover, to a beatnik boyfriend and an art thief. Intensely provocative, with an ominous dark humor, A History of Pain presents a hauntingly campy vision of a world without morals or social consciousness. Ours is a society where torture is no longer about that which is done to us, but that which is taken away.

Featuring a powerful soundtrack by Psychic T.V., Monte Cazazza, Lustmord and Allegory Chapel.