Whatever the fans say – and sometimes a little sectarian – about the last Barbie, Gerwig's film corseted in the Mattel advertising universe offers only a feminism on sale. Perhaps the opportunity to explore the spectrum of different film genres to offer a small selection of real feminist films! And if yours don't appear there, don't hesitate to suggest them by sharing your comments...
Contents
Huge
Comedy who totally embraces her words, Huge Sophie Letourneur is perhaps the most feminist cinema proposal in recent years. Between a perfect duo of actors – Marina Foïs and Jonathan Cohen – and a pitch that perfectly returns archetypal patriarchal codes (the careerist woman lets her man take care of the classes of preparation for childbirth), Huge the most interesting feature films of the year 2020.
Its intrication between segments close to the documentary construction and pure fiction only adds interest to this extraordinary film. So just catch up Travel to Italy, the last film of this director.
Thelma and Louise
Evidence should be provided that the concept of Male gaise – so much commented – has no connection with the genre of the director behind the camera. Indeed, Ridley Scott proposes with Thelma and Louise a female ode in the form of a road-movie, where Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon form a duo unforgettable.
If it is to sink open doors that propose it here, its recent spring in excellent quality should – I hope – motivate the last recalcitrants to catch up with this masterpiece of the 1990s.
Saint Omer
Saint Omer without trait of union, taking place in the city of eponymous province (but with a trait of union) where the trial for infanticide of Fabienne Kabou shakes the population. Alice Diop proposes not only the rereading of a sordid made-various, but also a touching reflection on motherhood, knitted by a subtext lingering on the side of the myth of Medea. An exciting huis-closure whose final argument is at the heart of the feature film.
Stern·x·s
If we evoke a film related to the documentary (Huge) or affecting the tangible reality of the various events (Saint Omer), with Stern·x·s We are in the pure documentary. There is a group of young people who want to develop ethical and dissident pornography.
Brilliantly rehabilitating the professions surrounding the production of porn content, Stern·x·s is a reflection on art, sexuality and desires in all their forms, far from the dictates imposed by the industry of X mainstream. Passionate!
Laurence Anyways
Educated sometimes in engineering, sometimes as a spoiled child of cinema, Xavier Dolan (who recently announced that he would stop his career as a filmmaker) proposes with Laurence Anyways One of his most striking films. We will gladly forgive him for his excessive length so much the duo formed by Suzanne Clément and Melvil Poupaud die! A pure fiction film queer and enchanting...
Babysitter
With Quebec's Monia Chokri and her Babysitter, we take not only a good dose of comedy but above all an acidic reflection on the latent machism of our societies. Presented at NIFFF 2022, this feature film playing with genres imposes as the most acerbic object of this selection. Suffice to say that we are looking forward to this director's next film, Simple as Sylvain, which should be released in November.
Féline
With this flagship film of the 1942 cinematography year – then returned 40 years later by Paul Schrader in an eponymous remake – Jacques Tourneur proposes a blurred feature film. Black film playing with the codes of fantasy and horror, Féline is a magnificent metaphorical exploration of female desire buried by societal norms. And not to spoil anything, the film is simply splendid formally. An inevitable classic!
Pearl
Whether it is X or PearlTi West injects in his recent horrific productions a revival of the feminine yet modelled in the respective periods where his feature films take place. The evidence, if necessary, that a rewriting of the scream queens a little potiches of the 1980s was possible (and necessary!). The complete criticism of Pearl is to read here !
Benedetta / Her / Showgirls
Between the nun with lubricated desires of Benedetta (Virginie Effira), the dark story of rapeShe With Isabelle Huppert or the story of Nomi Malone wishing to become a famous showgirl, Paul Verhoeven made female characters strong DNA from his feature films.
Always troubled, complex, tortured by the mismatch between internal desires and extrinsic norms, each film of the Dutch is worth its heavy weight (and knows how to provoke debate). And making a selection of feminist films without mentioning it would have been simply impossible!
Sibyl
Justine Triet's film – now crowned with a golden palm with its upcoming film, Anatomy of a fall – Sibyl explores the plight of a psychotherapist (Effira, still her) mixing the life of her patient (an actress in the film, incarnated by Adèle Exarchopoulos) with the fictions she puts on paper.
The result is a story of jealousy, love and desires, poisonous and tentacular. A dive into a resolutely feminine labyrinth that is worth a look, just as much as Victoria (triet's previous film, still with Virginie Effira).
[...] We'll be back in 10 years to see if things have changed after MeToo. Until then, let us continue to promote women's cinema together. [...]
I'll add to this great selection #Agora, #Alien (the most symbolic of the lot), #ErinBrockovich, #FiguresDeLombre, #Mustang (by far the most committed), #PortraitDeLaJeuneFilleEnFeu, #PromisingYoungWoman, #Revenge (2017) and #TheNightingale.
> Alien, the eighth passenger – The monster of a generation – MaG (movieandgame.fr)
> Promising Young Woman, angel of revenge – MaG (movieandgame.fr)
> The Nightingale – MaG (movieandgame.fr)