Omg that was so gruesome! She was self cutting on her vagina
I think she couldn't feel pain or something because she didn't seem to wince at all
Trust me, a cut down there HURTS BAD. I once cut myself shaving and the pain was awful.

Because she has masochistic fantasies and is repressed. She is cutting herself as a form of release.
It is also worth mentioning that she has odd fetishes. She sniffed tissues in the booth and urinated when spying on the couple. She also seems contradictory, she wants to be dominated but at the same time wants control.
This scene made me uncomfortable, so I guess Haneke accomplished his goal.

That was one of the most horrific things I can remember ever seeing on film.
Just the thought of it makes me incredibly uncomfortable even now.
And despite all the other weird things she does in the film, that one thing makes it hard to accept her as a real person rather than just a character in a story.

Did you read the post directly above yours?
The book explains (in graphic detail) how she is performing a ritual of masochistic self-harm on her genitals with the razorblade. It was incredibly disgusting, and for the sake of my sanity I'm glad the movie was more ambiguous about it.

I guess she wanted to fake menstruating because she was so serious in doing it but why she did it? It eludes me.
Mohsen Qassemi

The book explains (in graphic detail) how she is performing a ritual of masochistic self-harm on her genitals with the razorblade. It was incredibly disgusting, and for the sake of my sanity I'm glad the movie was more ambiguous about it.

greganto
, she's engaging in self-mutilation, not trying to simulate menstruation.
Also, she probably
isn't
past menopause; the average age of menopause for white women in industrialized nations is 51, and the "movie" Erika is in her 40s (Erika in the novel is in her 30s).
"All you need to start an asylum is an empty room and the right kind of people."

You know, this is something I find interesting. If she simply wanted to cut herself, I doubt she would go about it as surgically as she did. She was aiming for a very specific spot, she had something very particular in mind, that's what I get from the execution of the scene.
Of course this theory has as much problems as any other, I don't think she was supposed to be past her menopause.
I will now end this debate with you.

This message has been deleted.

I believe she cut herself in order to fool her mother (and maybe herself) into thinking that she is still menstruating even though she's past her menopause by now. It's something she's been doing regularly obviously in the last few years. Why she did it? This has clearly to do with the psychological dynamics betweeen her and her mother. Maybe it indicates a denial to acknowledge the grown up woman inside her, as this should lead her to break up with the suffocating ties with her mother.

Why is she cutting herself?
I'd say it's because she is trapped in an emotionally abusive co-dependent relationship with her mom and she's a very unhappy person.

Because it's how she gets off. Simple.
I remember saying "I hate you, Michael Haneke" when that scene happened. It made my body contort for about five minutes

Some of the responses here suprised me big time. Seriously, shaving? Nobody shaves with a razorblade with such a danger of it slipping. It's obvious she was cutting herself. You can see it first doing it on a right leg, then on the left leg. It was probably a good location for her because nobody could see the scars and because it was close enough to her genitals to give her some sexual pleasure (since she was a masochist).
Also, it was obvious she had a routine because she didn't panic at the sight of blood (which I assume you do when you cut yourself for the first time) or when her mother called. She cleaned everything in order and put the razor back in her purse, all of that implying she is doing this quite regularly.

tinasparklesau
, the movie is on YT, so I just re-watched that scene, twice to make sure. When she sits on the edge of the tub, she's sans underwear. She initially wipes away the blood with a small wad of tissue (toilet tissue or facial tissue), then she takes a pad, pulls off the adhesive strip, puts it between her legs (I think she's clenching it between her vulva, which isn't difficult to do) with the adhesive side down so it will adhere to her undies, and then puts on her undies, which are on the seat of the closed toilet.

I can see the confusion with this scene. It could be due to a goof maybe? Re-watched it last night (with upgraded high def screen) and when she sits on the edge of the bath, you can see she is wearing underwear, yet when she gets up, she makes a motion like she is pulling her underwear back up. Before i noticed that, i always assumed it was just regular self harming near the top of her leg where it wouldn't be noticed by anyone. The movie seems to make it seem ambiguous as to what exactly she was doing. After she was done she grabbed a pad (correct me if i'm wrong but it looked like one to me) to stop the bleeding, but we can't really see where she put it other than between her legs. If she didn't put it in her underwear, then how was she able to walk naturally over to the sink while holding something between her thighs - it would have looked more like an awkward shuffle.
Also, when her mother points out the blood to her, there is a quick shot of the blood and she is really bleeding profusely! Her thigh looks totally covered in blood.

This message has been deleted.

Exactly. Quite an example, I hope people will now understand how absurd the idea of a razor inside a vagina is.

P.S. It's impossible to lose virginity with a razor blade. If she attempted such an action, she would have bleeded to death, not just lost a drop of blood. Imagine a razor blade "travelling" into this internal organ quite deeply and cutting all the sides
Sometimes I wonder if the some of the people behing the posts in this thread are idiots. How anyone could think it would be possible to penetrate yourself with a razor blade a and cut the inside ( and then later just go about one's day like you didn't just inflict trauma that should have caused you major blood loss I don't know why so many people seem to be so clueless when it comes to female body parts. Imagine if it had been a dude, cutting his balls off. Would anyone believe that to be possible for ANYONE to self-harm in such a horrific way and NOT end up at the ER?

The way she acts so masochistically and, in a way, sadistically, I think she cuts her labium not only to get pleasure out of the cutting itself. When she watched the couple in the car (or the student getting hurt) she rapidly started peeing and with ulcered labium she must have felt a GREAT pain. Thus, knowing she was a masochist, I think urinating was a way to satisfy sexually.
P.S. It's impossible to lose virginity with a razor blade. If she attempted such an action, she would have bleeded to death, not just lost a drop of blood. Imagine a razor blade "travelling" into this internal organ quite deeply and cutting all the sides

This message has been deleted.

This is the simplest explanation and probably the intended one, but there seems something fishy to me in the way she goes about it

How is this a mystery to so many people? She is a masochist and deeply sexually frustrated. She gets off on pain. She cut herself for the sexual release, similar to that she desired in a safe, S&M relationstip. Sadly, she was unable to find that safety and experience.

At last! Someone is making sense and its NOT just so her mother can't see it. As the film unfolds we discover that some very dark thoughts occupy her mind and this is just another form of her self harming.

This has to be compared with Bergman's "Cries and Whispers" (
http://www.imdb.com/board/10069467/
), in my humble opinion. Genitalia self-harm, and "nothing" more.