Ten films with extraordinary women

It’s always the right time to talk about the role of women, who have been so glaringly absent from public life. I want to do so within the world of cinema, a field that is particularly timely. The media frenzy over #metoo against sexual harassment, coupled with the increasing demands for equal salaries, are beginning to raise awareness. But even before this feminist onslaught, many women have left their imprint on cinema, either in front of or behind the camera, even though their importance is still negligible. The dearth of successful female film directors is yet another example of the situation in which women find themselves in the workplace in general, with the “glass ceiling” that is so difficult to break through. We could mention a few exceptions: Kathryn Bigelow, Jane Campion, Jodie Foster, Sofia Coppola, Mia Hansen Love and in Spain Isabel Coixet, Gracia Querejeta and the recent phenomenon Carla Simon, and that’s it. I don’t know if you are aware that the first female director ever mentioned was the Parisian Alice Guy-Blaché. She began her relationship with the seventh art in 1894 and was a contemporary of the Lumière brothers. Which ones are remembered? It goes without saying…

Throughout the history of cinema, most actresses have been relegated to supporting roles, as complements to the male leads, and they are often in roles associated with motherhood or eroticism more than with strong personalities with their own motivations. Nonetheless, if we take a look at the film line-ups we can see that some of the films feature women and that female empowerment is on the rise. I thought I’d choose the films from the past 40 years that, in my opinion, project women with more forceful characters, women burning to take on the world, even though half of the films are directed by men. The time is coming for these modern women to secure the role they deserve, on the big screen as well.

1

ALIEN

Ridley Scott (1979)

The films series starring Sigourney Weaver is the mother of all exceptions. If there are films that ignore the stereotypes of its era (and of today!) on how a starring woman should be, Alien scoops up all the prizes.

Why? Back in 1979, this story dared a radical change in women with a strong, hard, brave and unforgettable heroine, Lieutenant Ellen Ripley. And in an action and science fiction film to boot! Is there any stomping ground that is more male?

2

THELMA & LOUISE

Ridley Scott (1991)

We’re back with Ridley Scott, a true pioneer. The two stars of the film became the muses of a feminism that was trying to raise again its head back in the 1990s. Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon broke box-office records in the midst of blockbusters like Terminator 2. The outcome was transgressive, although there was also criticism of the role of the women in the film, since one of the main characters was raped and despite their rebellion, their personalities were at times weak and a bit hysterical, so the film didn’t go far enough in breaking the stereotypes that have often been associated with women who don’t have a man by their side.

Why? Thelma and Louise inspired a new wave of films in Hollywood in which the female perspective became the prime vantage point. But this wave was fleeting and did not sufficiently shake up the foundations of the American film industry. But we’ll always recall their bid for freedom in the last scene of the film.

3

THE VIRGIN SUICIDES

Sofia Coppola (1999)

This is a film directed by and starring women, a true oddity. Sofia Coppola, the daughter one of the best filmmakers of all times, stormed onto the scene as the director of this film. It is the story of young women imprisoned by their strict mother and forced to lead a life of abstinence, without colours. Boasting undeniable cinematic beauty, this adolescent portrait is distressing and yet painfully precious at the same time.

Why? At the time it was a burst of fresh air in the film world and a new kind of visual narrative. Coppola’s daughter emerged with an adaptation of the novel by the same name, written by Jeffrey Eugenides, which offers equal parts of humour and tenderness. Today society is way beyond many of the conflicts shown in the film, but the secret of femininity, desire, death… will always be timeless.

4

ALONE

Benito Zambrano (1999)

It is essential to explain the characters in the film through their solitude in Zambrano’s opus primus. This is not a film of losers but of people who never seem to win. The ALONE women in Zambrano’s film are played by María Galiana and Ana Fernández, both of whom won the Goya Awards for Best New Actress and Best Supporting Actress in 2000.

Why? Alone portrays the desperation of a mother and daughter in a rural town in Andalusia, a world governed by and for men. At the same time, it also portrays the prevailing masculinity, from extreme machoism, captured in the misogynistic, rude lorry driver who washes his hands of the main character’s pregnancy, to sensitive men who are tender, amicable companions.

5

BOYS DON’T CRY

Kimberly Pierce (2000)

Based on real events, this film tells the story of a woman who falls into a sexual identity crisis. It earned Hillary Swank an Oscar in a role that broke down stereotypes. It perfectly captures the discrimination and rejection suffered by a transsexual in the early 1990s. And even today.

Why? Kimberly Pierce questioned the clichés on masculinity and the internal suffering of a woman who feels like a man and has to work miracles to be accepted and not feel marginalised. It was a controversial production which explored the social penalties paid by alternative sexual identities.

6

VOLVER

Pedro Almodóvar (2006)

This selection could not fail to include one of the top Spanish directors. In 2006, Almodóvar completed his unique, recurring homage to women with this comedy on death and feminism in a village of La Mancha with an actress in a state of grace in this film, none other than Penelope Cruz in the best role of her career.

Why? Volver is a film about family, and specifically about women and the solidarity with which they deal with the most serious problems, like death. Precisely this is the connection between life and death that makes it so special. Oh, and don’t miss the great Estrella Morente’s cover of Gardel’s tango Volver, which plays a central role in the film.

7

PERSEPOLIS

Marjane Satrapi (2007)

Good stories about women can come from anywhere, even from such repressive places for them as Iran. In 2007, the director Marjane Satrapi surprised the world of moviegoers with her gem of an animated film called Persepolis. The film is a denunciation of religious fanaticism and repression against Iranian women by Islamic fundamentalists.

Why? The director and main character of the story is looking for both individual freedom and the freedom of her people, and along the way she shows us the difficulties of a woman who has to go into exile but never forgets her home. She does so through comics first and animated film later in this delightful adaptation. Persepolis is a work that portrays the courage of Iranian women. Sadly, the reality that it depicts is still part of the everyday lives of Persian women, who even today are forced to cover their heads with a scarf before they leave their homes.

8

CARAMEL

Nadine Labaki (2007)

From the repression of Iran we shift to the contradictions of Lebanese society, which is much more open yet also lacking equality, as we follow five women. Once again it is a female director who films and condemns the hypocrisy and falseness of a patriarchal society.

Why? To discover the intimate use of caramel in Lebanon. And because Labaki’s eye and the spontaneity of the five main characters strip the drama from situations like gender violence, which can be very harsh yet are sadly commonplace. Furthermore, the director chooses a strictly contained narration and never falls into emotional exhibitionism.

9

THINGS TO COME

Mia Hansen-Løve (2016)

Things to Come is a film where nothing really happens, just life. The French director’s unique way of filming, which in this pic features the outstanding Isabelle Huppert, reveals little action but a great deal of the characters’ psychological makeup. Almost all of them are women in the midst of existential crises.

Why? This is a story about the passage of time which is stamped on the skin until you cannot get rid of it. In Things to Come, the director’s new heroine is a woman who is forced to discover a new life process which she has never dealt with before: freedom. Without a man, without children and without work…

10

ELLE

Paul Verhoeven (2017)

The main character in this film, Michelle, is an amoral being. The Dutch director shows a world inhabited by miserable characters in a film that is critical of a society in which a woman can get promoted yet never achieve power. Yet again Isabelle Huppert steals the limelight as an unscrupulous, unhappy, sociopathic woman who punishes those near her while also being strong and powerful. Not all of us are Bambis.

Why? To cross the boundaries of the morality instated as our social legacy, Verhoeven’s film makes it clear true monsters lurk behind everyone. Michelle is one, and those who accompany her paint one of the most unpleasant portraits in recent years. In short, women may also be unable to love.