It’s a
man’s world, and this is especially true when it comes to film directing. The
2012 Cannes Film Festival received well-deserved criticism for pandering to a
boy’s club mentality where no female directors were in competition, and, maybe
more to the point, where the quality of the films in competition (directed by men) was in question. Sight
and Sound’s recent Top 50 Greatest Films of All Time poll, which includes only
one female director, sparked the discussion again. My criticism is not with
Sight and Sound's poll (it's an unavoidable reality that the
historical odds are stacked against women, even in my own personal top 10.) My complaint is with the post-poll scramble to fill the gap and chronicle the
best films directed by women. I’m not going to name any names, but some of
these lists were pathetic. (Yentl? The Kids Are Alright? Really?)
Let’s
broaden our horizons a little bit, as I try to dig just a little bit deeper
into the great films brought to us by the women fighting the odds. My 21, listed chronologically from most recent:
Meek’s Cutoff (2011) Kelly Reichardt
Father of My Children (2009) Mia Hansen-Løve
Oxhide (2005) and Oxhide II (2009) Liu Jiayin
The Way We Are (2008) Ann Hui
Mukhsin (2006) Yasmin Ahmad
Sharasojyu (2003) Naomi Kawase
La Cienega (2001) Lucrecia Martel
Fat Girl (2001) Catherine Breillat
Beau Travail (1999) Claire Denis
Ratcatcher (1999) Lynne Ramsay
The Piano (1993) Jane Campion
Hearts of Darkness (1991) Eleanor
Coppola
An Autumn’s Tale (1987) Mabel Cheung
Born in Flames (1983) Lizzie Borden
Variety (1983) Bette Gordon
Variety (1983) Bette Gordon
Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080
Bruxelles (1975) Chantal Akerman
Destroy, She Said (1969) Marguerite
Duras
The Connection (1962) Shirley Clark
Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962) Agnès
Varda
Meshes of the Afternoon (1943) Maya
Deren
The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926)
Lotte Reiniger
And
finally two directors who should be acknowledged, even if I’m ill equipped to do
so:
Daniele
Huillet
Alice
Guy-Blaché
7 comments:
Hi Kathie --
Interesting post and list...
Love the inclusion of such as Liu Jiayin's "Oxhide II" (I so wish I will get to view "Oxhide I" some day), Ann Hui's "The Way We Are" and Yasmin Ahmad's "Mukhsin".
One small correction: it's Mabel Cheung (not Cheng) who directed "An Autumn's Tale".
Also, can I throw out a few candidates of my own?
- Ann Hui's "A Simple Life"
- Maggie Greenwald's "The Ballad of Little Jo"
- Alice Wu's "Saving Face"
- Sylvia Chang's "Tempting Heart"
- Marzieh Makhmalbaf's "The Day I Became a Woman"
:)
Hi YTSL,
Thanks for the edit and thanks for the additions! No list is ever done!
VERY interesting, thank you!
http://www.surveytool.com/online-poll/
Don't you defend Sophia Coppola's "Marie Antoinette"?
You really need to see Barbara Loden's "Wanda". So amazing.
You're right: I do defend Marie Antoinette, but more in an unabashed guilty pleasure. I might have to bow that, outside my bubble, it's not as great comparatively.
And you're also right: I do need to see Wanda.
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