What exactly is a feminist film? A film with a female director or a film with a strong female lead? Maybe a film which explores the lived experiences of women and challenges society’s gendered expectations? Could it be a film in which women fight for and gain equality, whilst smashing the patriarchy? Whatever your definition or views on feminist cinema, there should be something here for everyone.
Born in Flames (1983)
dir. Lizzie Borden
Following its restoration and rerelease in 2016, reappraisals of Lizzie Borden’s 1983 Born in Flames confirm it to be a ground-breaking and prescient film rooted in the radical, feminist politics of the 1980s. Considered by many to be the first ever intersectional film, it is set in an alternative democratic socialist USA and explores sexism, racism, classism and heterosexism. The action takes place a decade after a social democratic cultural revolution. Despite this liberation, and a newly socialist America, society remains a place where harassment and sexual assaults on women are commonplace. Following the murder of Adelaide Norris, a Black, radical lesbian who has founded the Women’s Army, women from all backgrounds decide to instigate a feminist insurgency and smash the patriarchy.
This low budget docufiction uses real news footage, including images of police brutality and interviews. Its use of a guerilla-filming technique, and clandestine locations on the streets of New York, add both urgency and energy to the action. Amongst the cast are a young Kathryn Bigelow, who plays a journalist, and the late human rights lawyer Florence Kennedy, as a theorist and mentor to the younger women.
Gaslight (1944)
dir. George Cukor
Gaslight is a psychological thriller which uses the ‘mad woman in the attic’ trope to explore the manipulation and mental abuse of its lead female character. Ingrid Bergman plays Paula Alquist, the niece of a famous opera singer who has been murdered in her London home. After her aunt’s death Alquist travels to Italy to study music. Here she meets the charming Gregory Anton (Charles Boyer). They marry and return to London.
Ostensibly their upper-class life is a privileged and comfortable one. However, Gregory is a manipulative husband who sets out to convince his wife that she is going mad. He suggests Paula has lost or forgotten things, when she has not. He openly flirts with the housemaid, causing his wife much distress. He also convinces Paula that the gaslights in the home are not dimming, when they are. The title of the film led to the now widely used phrase ‘gaslighting’.
Paula is left increasingly isolated by Gregory’s behaviour, questioning her own sanity. It is only through the involvement of a police officer who is investigating her aunt’s death that Gregory’s abusive behaviour is exposed.
Filmed in black and white, Gaslight contains elements of noir cinema, including low-key lighting and an archetypal detective protagonist. Gregory is cast in the untrustworthy, sinister husband mould, sharing similarities with films of the time such as Rebecca (1940) and Jane Eyre (1944). The marital home, which should symbolise a place of sanctuary, becomes a place of threat and terror. Bergman won her first Oscar for what is considered to be one of her best performances and the film was nominated in several other categories including best picture.
My Brilliant Career (1979)
dir. Gillian Armstrong
Social conventions in late 19th-century Australia dictate and expect that women will marry. However, aspiring writer Sybylla (Judy Davis) wants to escape the confining nature of life on her parent’s rural farm. She dreams of an independent existence where she can pursue her writing career.
Sybylla is wooed by two men and becomes involved romantically with one, Harry Beecham (Sam Neill). Beecham is a kind and loving man and Sybylla is fond of him. He proposes to Sybylla but is rejected because she says she needs to discover herself. She asks him to give her time. Two years later Harry proposes a second time. Sybylla must decide whether to prioritise her writing over marriage and pursue her ‘brilliant career.’ The film highlights that marriage for Edwardian women was considered an end in itself with limited opportunity for them to forge their own identities or careers.
Armstrong is one of Australia’s foremost female directors and has won critical acclaim and numerous awards. Her films often have strong female leads, and the lives of women are at the fore of the narratives.
Moolaadé (2004)
dir. Ousmane Sembène
Moolaadé is the last film of the Senegalese writer, director and producer, Ousmane Sembène. Set in a small Burkina Faso village, the film deals with female genital mutilation (FGM). Malian actress and women’s rights activist Fatoumata Coulibaly plays Collé, the second of three wives and her husband’s favourite. Collé is opposed to the expected FGM procedure her fifteen-year-old daughter, Amasatou, will have to undergo prior to her marriage to fiancé, Ibrahima. As a result of her mother’s stance, Amasatou is shunned by the villagers. Such is the social pressure on her to conform, that she begs her mother to let the ritual go ahead. Collé will not be moved, and it is her use of Moolaadé, or ‘magical protection’, that allows her to save her daughter and three other young girls whilst bringing about some change in the villager’s attitudes.
Of note is how Sembène juxtaposes the traditional African community, rooted in long-established practices, with the more forward-looking world of the young man, Ibrahima. His shock at the death of two girls who have undergone FGM and refusal to marry an eleven-year-old cousin offers hope for the future. The film has been included in rankings of the best films of the 21st century and won several awards, including the jury award for Sembène at the Pan-African Film Festival.
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014)
dir. Ana Lily Amirpour
Director Ana Lily Amirpour has stated it was not her intention to make a knowingly feminist film, being far more interested in the vampire genre, atmosphere and visual impact. Still, viewers and critics alike of this Persian-language film have noted the film’s feminist leanings—from the subversion of its title to its female vampire protagonist.
The girl in question (Sheila Vand) is a skateboarding, chador-wearing young woman and the setting is Bad City. However, rather than becoming a potential victim by walking alone late at night, she is in fact the predator, seeking revenge on violent men. Shot in black and white the film is heavily influenced by both the Spaghetti Western genre and the 1922 film Nosferatu. The soundtrack, with its eclectic mix of Iranian, indie and British electro-pop music is an inspired choice for this quirky, free-spirited and off-beat film.
Words by Penelope Johnson
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