Screen Queens

My review of 'How to Have Sex' can be found at The Film Magazine: https://www.thefilmagazine.com/how-to-have-sex-2023-review/

I have just returned from my third viewing of 'Barbie', and again grinned the whole way through. It is a total joy to be immersed in the bright pink utopia of Barbieland: an escapist girl power fantasy to which I already can't wait to return. Barbieland is a female paradise, where all women are  happy, successful and independent, and every night is "girls' night". Barbies are  astronauts, Nobel prize winners and Presidents, and every day is perfect . As far as the Barbies are concerned, this is also the case in the real world, where, a s Helen Mirren's voice-over narrates: “thanks to Barbie,  all problems  of  feminism  and equal rights  have been solved .” Margot Robbie is perfect as "stereotypical Barbie", who must save Barbieland from the patriarchy, after discovering that the real world is not quite the same feminist idyll she imagined. Her pink bubble bursts when she confidently roller-skates up to a construction site, as "where better

My thoughts on the films I saw at Cannes 2023, during the 3 Days in Cannes program. Club Zero Dir. Jessica Hausner Mia Wasikowska stars as a health teacher who indoctrinates a group of teenagers into joining a bizarre conscious eating cult. An uncomfortable satire on mindful eating, and the dangers and prevalence of eating disorders. The tone of the film was a little unclear, but darkly humorous in its depiction of diet culture. I wasn't convinced by the teenage acting, but I was definitely intrigued throughout and didn't know how it was going to end. Unsure of the overall message, but an interesting watch. About Dry Grasses Dir. Nuri Bilge Ceylan Turkish drama about a teacher who takes an inappropriate interest in his female pupil. This was an uneasy watch, as the protagonist is very unlikable and cruel towards the young girl and others around him. It wasn't obvious where the film was going, and whether the teacher/pupil storyline was going to develop. But it suddenly took

 My review of 'She Said can be found at The Film Magazine: https://www.thefilmagazine.com/she-said-movie-review-2022/

 My review of 'One Fine Morning' can be found at The Film Magazine:   https://www.thefilmagazine.com/one-fine-morning-2022-review/

My interview for Flip Screen can be found at:   https://flipscreened.com/2021/11/06/interview-therese-shechter-on-the-institution-of-motherhood-in-my-so-called-selfish-life-2021/

 My review of 'Gates' can be found at Movie Marker: https://moviemarker.co.uk/gates/

 My review of 'Tove' can be found at Movie Marker: http://moviemarker.co.uk/tove/

  My essay on The Duality of the Female Psyche in 'Mouthpiece' can be found at The Film Magazine: https://www.thefilmagazine.com/mouthpiece-duality-of-female-psyche/

  My review of 'Rare Beasts' can be found at InSession Film: https://insessionfilm.com/movie-review-rare-beasts/

  My essay can be found at The Film Magazine: https://www.thefilmagazine.com/thelma-louise-powerful-ending-film-essay/

The film begins with a nightmare. Our 16-year-old protagonist, Vivian (Hadley Robinson) is running through the woods at night. There are rustles in the trees around her and an ominous sense of dread. She opens her mouth to scream, but no sound comes out. This is ultimately the central premise of the film: a young woman finding her voice, and ultimately a collective female voice, out of a silenced scream. Cut to present day, where the annual high school "rankings" have just been announced, categorising the girls into labels which include “best rack” and “most bangable”. Detestable football jock, Mitchell (Patrick Swarzenegger) personifies this day-to-day objectification that pervades the daily lives of the school’s young women. When he begins to bother new girl Lucy (Alycia Pascual-Peña), Vivian tries to reassure her by telling her to just keep her head down, to which Lucy corrects her: “I’m gonna keep my head up... high." After being ranked “most obedient”, and disco

My essay on 'The Assistant' can be found at The Gallyry: https://www.thegallyry.com/post/the-assistant-exposes-the-chilling-complicity-of-workplace-culture

Celine Sciamma described her film Portrait of a Lady on Fire as “a manifesto on the female gaze.” Although now a popular buzzword, the expression has never been so powerfully epitomised than in this film. In the 1973 essay Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema , Laura Mulvey coined the term ‘male gaze’ to describe the patriarchal lens through which women in film are presented. Female-centric both in front of and behind the camera, Sciamma’s film is about female artists, by female artists, and celebrates the value of women’s work in a historically patriarchal medium. In 18th century France, young artist Marianne (Noémie Merlant) is commissioned to paint the wedding portrait of a merchant’s daughter, Héloïse (Adèle Haenel). In protest of her arranged marriage, Héloïse refused to pose for a previous painter, so Marianne must initially paint her in secret. After Marianne later comes clean that she was sent to paint Héloïse, the merchant’s daughter finally allows her, and Sciamma subverts

Miriam Battye’s play Scenes with Girls focuses on two women in their twenties, whose conversations revolve around men and sex. However, while the opposite sex dominate the dialogue, the play is a powerful exploration of female friendship, and the rejection of heteronormative expectation. Best friends Tosh and Lou share the goal of rewriting the stereotypical female narrative, by rejecting social expectation of amorous love as the ‘happily ever after’. Lou pursues no strings-attached sexual encounters, whilst Tosh gives up intimacy with the opposite sex altogether. With the rigidness of a society which labels you either a ‘slut’ or ‘frigid’, neither approach is presented as either right or wrong, and the play interrogates the idea of there being a ‘right’ way to be a feminist. The play unconventionally skews the Bechdel test, by focusing on androcentric conversation, while ultimately prioritising platonic female love. The Bechdel test – which demands that a work of fiction feature at l