Susan and the company of women
In the Company of Women. This Independent Film Channel produced documentary offers a comfortably rambling take on the slow rise of female film directors and several barrier-breaking actresses. The focus is not on mainstream film history – we don’t go all the way back to such trailblazers as Ida Lupino, the former 1930s screen star who went on to direct B-movies for decades. Instead we hear from more recent indie directors, such as Lisa Cholodenko (High Art) and Allison Anders (Gas Food Lodging), and various actresses who have been branded indie queens over the years (Lili Taylor, Parker Posey and Patricia Clarkson among them).
The films these women made were not necessarily blockbuster hits or artistic masterpieces, but they did tell stories from the perspective of female protagonists. Desperately Seeking Susan, which famously (or notoriously) offered Madonna a crack at acting in 1985, is held up as an early example of a film made by a woman (Susan Seidelman) about women. That movie and several others cited will never, for various reasons, be allowed to enter the canon imposed by male-dominated film histories such as Easy Riders, Raging Bulls. In the Company of Women, however, does make a strong case that these less heralded breakthroughs deserve recognition, and added together point to a wider and deeper movement in filmmaking.
The doc benefits from thoughtful touches, such as the segment on raising children, and makes a star out of Taylor in particular: The character actor emerges as a dedicated ground breaker in female filmmaking.
In the Company of Women – Independent Film Channel, Tuesday 7 p.m.
Source: Theglobeandmail.com