From The Ankler‘s Richard Rushfield….
I’m personally afraid (very afraid) of female-created films that appear to be anguish- or pain- or persecution-driven. I’m speaking of a longstanding dread of mute-nostril-agony films that hurl me to the bottom of a terrible black pit. You know…films about this or that woman suffering from this or that oppressive situation a la Mary Bronstein‘s If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, Mascha Schilinski‘s Sound of Falling, Lynne Ramsay‘s Die My love, Mona Fastvold‘s The Testament of Ann Lee, Sarah Polley‘s Women Talking, Emerald Fennell‘s Promising Young Woman….that line of country.
Does this mean I only want to see buoyant, ironic-happy-face, patty-cake Barbie movies from women directors or about female characters? Of course not. I’m a huge fan of Sarah Gavron‘s Suffragette, Magnus von Horn‘s The Girl With The Needle, Ridley Scott‘s Thelma & Louise, Darren Aronofsky‘s mother!, etc. There are dozens upon dozens more in this vein.