Tag Archives: feminism

“The World Unseen” by Shamin Sarif (South Africa, 2007)

Lesbian love seen by a female director

 

The World Unseen

Weakness in the script, stiff acting, clumsy direction, but lots of good intention in Sarif’s debut feature: “Everyone’s breaking barriers and causing trouble in this film, or least yearning to.” Jay Antani

Cast: Lisa Ray, Sheetal Sheth, Parvin Dabas, Nandana Sen, Grethe Fox, David Dennis, Bernard White, Colin Moss, Amber Ross Revah, Rajesh Gopie
Director: Shamim Sarif
Screenwriter/novelist: Shamim Sarif
Music by Richard Blackford
Cinematography by Michael Downie
Film Editing by David Martin

“The Party” by Sally Potter (UK, 2017)

The Work of Sally Potter

The Party

Good use of space, great acting, theatrical (unity of space, time and action)

Cast: Kristin Scott Thomas, Patricia Clarkson, Bruno Ganz, Cherry Jones, Emily Mortimer, Cillian Murphy, Timothy Spall
Director: Sally Potter
Writer: Sally Potter
Cinematographer: Aleksei Rodionov
Editor: Emilie Orsini, Anders Refn

“The Divine Order” by Petra Volpe (Switzerland, 2017)

The Divine Order

Wrong music! A bit to conventional.

Cast: Marie Leuenberger, Maximilian Simonischek, Marta Zoffoli, Bettina Stucky, Rachel Braunschweig, Sibylle Brunner, Noe Krejcí, Finn Sutter
Director: Petra Biondina Volpe
Writer: Petra Biondina Volpe
Cinematographer: Judith Kaufmann
Editor: Hansjörg Weißbrich
Composer: Annette Focks

“Split” (Deborah Kampmeier, USA 2016)

Split

A most intelligent cry of revolt against violence perpetrated on women

SPOILERS AHEAD
Inanna (Amy Ferguson) joins an experimental theater group that works on the Mesopotamian myth of Inanna, and more specifically on the liberation of enslaved women. After a few rehearsals, she comes to the conclusion that she does not possess the primal rage and the raw longing for freedom that the other women in the play possess. In a most upsetting scene, these women tell how they have been victims of extreme sexualized violence.
At the same time, Inanna falls head over heels in love with Derek, a mask maker (Morgan Spector), and marries him. Right from the start, she adapts her life to his, while he refuses to change anything in his own life. He doesn’t even stop the affair he had with his assistant (Antonia Campbell-Hughes), claiming that she was there first.
Inanna soon realizes that she is losing her identity while getting nothing in return. Profoundly wounded and feeling like drowning, she is now able to express the primal rage and the raw longing for freedom that the play requires from her.

Cast: Amy Ferguson, Morgan Spector, Anna Mouglalis
Director: Deborah Kampmeier
Writers: Deborah Kampmeier, Deborah Kampmeier
Music: Leslie Graves, Michelangelo Sosnowitz
Cinematography: Alison Kelly
Editing: Siobhan Dunne

“Summertime” (Catherine Corsini, France 2015)

La Belle Saison

The movie is so relaxed in its storytelling, and so committed to a certain level of realism, that it frequently feels deliberately anti-dramatic.
[Glenn Kenny, July 22, 2016 http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/summertime-2016]

Cast: Izïa Higelin, Jean-Henri Compère, Cécile De France, Kévin Azaïs, Noémie Lvovsky, Laetitia Dosch
Director: Catherine Corsini
Writer: Catherine Corsini, Laurette Polmanss
Cinematographer: Jeanne Lapoirie
Editor: Frédéric Baillehaiche
Composer: Gregoire Hetzel