Monday, December 28, 2009

Nine

Four thoughts:

First, I don't know why good parts for women in movie musicals always have to involve lingerie.

Second, I'm glad that most of the women Guido used and abused decided to leave him by the end. Yay for having (at least some) self-respect, ladies.

Third, I'm glad the film addressed how a woman can disappear into her husband once she gets married. A lot of people feel that a woman giving up her last name is nothing but an old tradition that has no real repercussions in her life, in society, or in her relationship with her husband. I appreciated the discussion of how Luisa Acari ceased to exist, both literally and figuratively, once Luisa Contini was born.

Finally, I feel that this movie represents in a pretty major way the dominant relationship between females and film. I've been reading recently about the lack of female directors in Hollywood and the discrepancy between what male and female stars are paid. Guido represents all of us, then, in the way he treats the women in his life. He loves to look at women and dress them in sexy clothes and use them as inspiration, but the ladies themselves get zero power. One of them, Lilli (played by Judi Dench), gets some respect, but she really spends most of her time fetching Guido coffee and cigarettes. I certainly related to Claudia (played by Nicole Kidman), when she told Guido that instead of being a muse, "I'd rather be the man." Who wouldn't, when being a woman means, at best, straightening a great director's tie and, at worst, trying to kill yourself because your married boyfriend wants to spend the evening with his wife?

What kills me, though, is even as the movie is making this great, sophisticated point, it's perpetuating the relationship it's criticizing. See my first point on how apparently you need to perform a half-naked chair dance in order to get a great musical role as a female.

Also (completely separate from my thoughts on women in Nine), Rome should not look exactly like Chicago, Rob Marshall. ;)


(Thank you to my sister Kelly for providing information that was important to this post.)

Monday, December 21, 2009

Two Good Articles on Female Directors

A good friend sent me the link to a great (and long) article on Nancy Meyers, which led me to a second article about female directors in general.

Since I haven't been great about writing reviews recently, I thought I'd get the posting ball rolling again by sharing these.