The Women
On Monday night I went with a friend to a pre-release screening of the movie The Women that my friend had somehow come by free tickets to. I don't think I have ever been to a pre-release movie screening before. It was sponsored by Wittners shoes, and so I discovered what the microphone down the front of the theatre was for when a manager from Wittners came and gave us a little introductory talk - about shoes. Apparently this summer we are in for feathers and jewels on our shoes, and we haven't seen the end of the platform. Somebody would have had to tell me that for me to be any the wiser because shoes are really not my thing. I am missing that large portion of a woman's brain that is apparently set-aside for shoes, and feel like I can do without feathers and jewels on mine, but we shall see.
Anyway, I had never heard of this movie before my friend's invitation. The cast consists entirely of women (as in, there isn't one male in it at all) and it is quite a good line up of actresses. Without writing a spoiler the story had a rather feminist message (I am seeing feminism everywhere after this month's EQUIP book club posts) but there were seemingly contradictory moments about being there for your children, about succeeding involving compromising your values, and at one point one of the actresses says "I know I can have it all, but I don't know if I want it all - because it's exhausting". Then the film ends with a lovely scene in a hospital ward with the group of friends all cooing over a baby.
In the end I was a little confused about what the movie was trying to tell me (when I bothered to think about it, because it's not exactly the kind of movie that makes one think deep-thinking is required) and I wondered if the movie itself was actually portraying that confusion because women are confused (or whether it was a piece of fluff that didn't bear analysing). In writing this post I just read the blurb I linked to above and it says this movie is a "valentine to today's woman, an appreciation of her efforts to navigate a complex web of choices, roles and responsibilities". So, perhaps that's it. (Interestingly it is a remake of an old 1939 film, so it would be curious to watch the original and see what's changed.)