it's so mystifying to me that anyone would suspect her of being guilty. she would have had to be such a monster, calmly pretending to be asleep while knowing her kid would find his body?—especially as this logic is why she can't imagine samuel killing himself. and not turning off that godawful music? also you're right about hüller's jeanne moreau-ish sex appeal! her face is fascinating. i loved that post-acquittal moment in the restaurant between her and vincent, when she considers and then doesn't kiss him. they both know why.
For me, you remind me of many feminist views I was exposed to and embraced in a younger time in my life. In the last ten or 15 years, those views have been buried and it's like they never existed. At least for me, your posts are always reminders that these views do exist and are alive in many women.
I loved the movie and found your analysis very useful in pointing out details I had missed, although I got the feminist text loud and clear. I am always glad to witness pushback against the idea that a woman must project a specific virtuous persona in order to be worthy of basic consideration and respect. We need more stories like this.
Awaiting your reactions to the new Broadway show, "Suffs." Last night, its first preview, the audience was 80% female and 100% vocal in their enthusiasm for every song, every performance, and every image projected or staged. The orchestra was all female, too, as were almost all of the stagehands. The curtain bows, filled with tears and hugs, was the most uplifting I have experienced. It seems like a Laurie-Stone dream production.
You’ve succeeded in articulating what I was feeling when I watched this film. I can’t imagine being that calm if anyone blasted out misogynistic reggae whilst I was trying to do my job. Was Sandra’s character married to a stroppy teenager? No! She was married to a narcissist - Samuel’s supposed X factor charisma being a common trait. Sandra, despite having a successful career and being a liberated woman, had taken on the role of Samuel’s mother.
There are many women who find themselves trapped in this kind of toxic relationship, their compassion and commitment totally abused by someone whose character was damaged well before they came along.
I read the first part on Instagram. I'm very pleased that I've now read the entire exceptionally fine post. I especially appreciated this line, "Women of Triet’s generation don’t have a political analysis, but they have a sense of self that feminism has given them." So our work as Second Wave Feminists was not in vain! I've always thought that, but this film and Laurie's analysis cements if for me.
The music scene made me furious. In any reasonable domestic setting, all she would have had to do is excuse herself, go to the door of his workshop and ask, “Could you turn that down, Hon? I have someone here working.” If he refused, she’d be entirely within her rights to pitch him over the rail then and there.
Laurie, the 45 year old is perhaps not getting in the feminist convo because she is tired of painting to the larger issue and perhaps just wants the man in front of her to be less aggressively idiotic. I'm saying as a 45yo executive with a stay-at-home 35yo husband who still spits canned misogyny on the occasion. This thing is a mental virus.
"I’m seeing myself as the Statue of Liberty, stuck in the sand at the end of Planet of the Apes" This is too good Laurie! Leave something for the rest of us : +
interesting review: two comments. i saw the film and thought it was great. that's not the comment; nor is your take on the feminist aspect, which is spot on. but one aspect that wasn't mentioned was the gulf between creative and 'real' life—when that schmuck prosecutor tried to imply that because a character in one of her novels killed a man who was abusing her, she, Sandra, could easily do the same thing. it's like an echo of the cultural appropriation scam, whereby a writer isn't allowed to write anything that s/he hasn't lived—as if Camus must, or should, have killed his mother to write The Stranger. the other comment is purely technical, in that i liked the coup de théatre of the female forensic investigator finding a different explanation for the blood splatter, but it came as deus ex machina, i wanted to witness the process, see her make the discovery.
it's so mystifying to me that anyone would suspect her of being guilty. she would have had to be such a monster, calmly pretending to be asleep while knowing her kid would find his body?—especially as this logic is why she can't imagine samuel killing himself. and not turning off that godawful music? also you're right about hüller's jeanne moreau-ish sex appeal! her face is fascinating. i loved that post-acquittal moment in the restaurant between her and vincent, when she considers and then doesn't kiss him. they both know why.
For me, you remind me of many feminist views I was exposed to and embraced in a younger time in my life. In the last ten or 15 years, those views have been buried and it's like they never existed. At least for me, your posts are always reminders that these views do exist and are alive in many women.
I loved the movie and found your analysis very useful in pointing out details I had missed, although I got the feminist text loud and clear. I am always glad to witness pushback against the idea that a woman must project a specific virtuous persona in order to be worthy of basic consideration and respect. We need more stories like this.
Awaiting your reactions to the new Broadway show, "Suffs." Last night, its first preview, the audience was 80% female and 100% vocal in their enthusiasm for every song, every performance, and every image projected or staged. The orchestra was all female, too, as were almost all of the stagehands. The curtain bows, filled with tears and hugs, was the most uplifting I have experienced. It seems like a Laurie-Stone dream production.
Me too: “sexism and misogyny as the social condition that guides our lives is me in the sand as the Statue of Liberty in Planet of the Apes.”
Oh, the weight of it all.
You’ve succeeded in articulating what I was feeling when I watched this film. I can’t imagine being that calm if anyone blasted out misogynistic reggae whilst I was trying to do my job. Was Sandra’s character married to a stroppy teenager? No! She was married to a narcissist - Samuel’s supposed X factor charisma being a common trait. Sandra, despite having a successful career and being a liberated woman, had taken on the role of Samuel’s mother.
There are many women who find themselves trapped in this kind of toxic relationship, their compassion and commitment totally abused by someone whose character was damaged well before they came along.
It was a good film and I’m glad I stuck with it.
I read the first part on Instagram. I'm very pleased that I've now read the entire exceptionally fine post. I especially appreciated this line, "Women of Triet’s generation don’t have a political analysis, but they have a sense of self that feminism has given them." So our work as Second Wave Feminists was not in vain! I've always thought that, but this film and Laurie's analysis cements if for me.
The music scene made me furious. In any reasonable domestic setting, all she would have had to do is excuse herself, go to the door of his workshop and ask, “Could you turn that down, Hon? I have someone here working.” If he refused, she’d be entirely within her rights to pitch him over the rail then and there.
Oh, regarding this piece, I loved this movie!
Laurie, the 45 year old is perhaps not getting in the feminist convo because she is tired of painting to the larger issue and perhaps just wants the man in front of her to be less aggressively idiotic. I'm saying as a 45yo executive with a stay-at-home 35yo husband who still spits canned misogyny on the occasion. This thing is a mental virus.
You’ve got the chops, kid, and so did the movie.
Thanks! XX
I loved the movie. She is so brilliant. Great movie.
"I’m seeing myself as the Statue of Liberty, stuck in the sand at the end of Planet of the Apes" This is too good Laurie! Leave something for the rest of us : +
gawd
Love this piece, loved the film and how its differences from traditional tales made me pay attention.
interesting review: two comments. i saw the film and thought it was great. that's not the comment; nor is your take on the feminist aspect, which is spot on. but one aspect that wasn't mentioned was the gulf between creative and 'real' life—when that schmuck prosecutor tried to imply that because a character in one of her novels killed a man who was abusing her, she, Sandra, could easily do the same thing. it's like an echo of the cultural appropriation scam, whereby a writer isn't allowed to write anything that s/he hasn't lived—as if Camus must, or should, have killed his mother to write The Stranger. the other comment is purely technical, in that i liked the coup de théatre of the female forensic investigator finding a different explanation for the blood splatter, but it came as deus ex machina, i wanted to witness the process, see her make the discovery.
that being said, she made sense.