Dear Ms. Holofcener,
I write letters to people about film. I write to people who read and people who watch, and people who create. It is something I enjoy doing and I keep thinking about the way this industry influences us, and what it can do better to give us the life-blood we need in challenging times.
Most people do not overtly suggest we go to films to teach us about life and love and good living. And yet, we inadvertently turn to movies as a source of comfort. We rely on stories to teach us about human existence. People consume movies constantly.
Sometimes I look up a well-renowned film or actor and watch to form my assessment of what works and does not work in such a collaborative creation. In the last couple of months, I watched Last Tango in Paris and Chinatown to explore certain kinds of filmmaking, and because I had heard so much about the performances. While the actresses were amazing in both of these films, I was horrified by the stories and the way that the women were—through the story—discounted or thrown away like objects. I know Women’s Studies departments warn us about this, and I had my fair share of documentaries shown to me in college classrooms. I’ve read plenty of critical analysis essays I was meant to present to students as an instructor in some college classrooms. It is one thing to be told, “This is what is happening to women in film” and another to go deep into the earth and start finding a new you inside yourself, and to begin following an interest and a passion, and feel the pain anew. What I mean is, I am seeing how deeply important it is for women to be filmmakers, and I am realizing why some spark ignited inside me a few years ago that led me to creating some wild art related to acting and filmmaking. I am not saying that wild art does not have consequences. It does. I also think we need brave people to undertake it so that people can open their eyes.
What does “wild art” mean? It means that we are encouraged to see differently. It means that women are not objects, but human beings speaking up for themselves. Instead of lauding Marlon Brando’s performance in Last Tango in Paris, wild art helps us recognize the character is a serial rapist and the classification for such a film should be horror and not erotic drama.
Do you agree?
In Chinatown, we can recognize that the cinematic aspects are so well-done, and yes, the acting by Faye Dunaway and Jack Nicholson is amazing, but why is there so little compassion or time given to this tragedy of a woman who is abused and murdered? It seems as though the film teaches women to keep their mouths shut and bow down before any jerk who has a lot of money. If not, she’ll have a price to pay.
It hurts to watch films that discount women’s personhood and humanity. It really hurts to be a woman, and want to see a legacy and generation of women’s success, but to see women discounted in films that are lauded as great cinema.
So I thank you for doing what you do as a writer and filmmaker. Your work to empower women is subtle, but subtle is not powerless or weak. I hope you will find a way to mentor and encourage other women entering the profession, to show them what is possible in collaborative creation, and the need for conscious filmmaking that gathers those who have been left out of the film industry for the last century. Perhaps there are tables to sit at for discussion, some money to work with, and ways of seeing that blend what is classic and heart-filled with what is unique and under-represented. I believe in this!
Thanks for doing you—
Ms. Wonderful
This week’s guest on the podcast was Natalie Pantaleo, Philadelphia author of Lying Down with Dogs (2022). She is also a marketer and writer.
Watch the podcast for Enough Said (2013) with James Gandolfini and Julia-Louis Dreyfuss on YouTube.
OR
Listen in your car or at home on Spotify
Next week tune in to listen for club musings on You Hurt My Feelings (2023). The last week in September, we will discuss Walking and Talking (1996), Holofcener’s first film. This will round out Holoftember, but don’t worry—you can carry your Holofcener fun into the autumn because her films are streaming on all major platforms.
I have a book! If you haven’t had enough reading, dive in.
