Tag Archive for 'An Education'

With all the hoopla over Kathryn Bigelow (as well the nomination for An Education as best picture) I missed another women directed film — The Milk of Sorrow directed by Claudia Llosa — which is up for the foreign film Oscar.

Not only is this film directed by a woman, it is about sexual violence against women in Peru.  Here is the description from IMDB:

Fausta is suffering from a rare disease called the Milk of Sorrow, which is transmitted through the breast milk of pregnant women who were abused or raped during or soon after pregnancy. While living in constant fear and confusion due to this disease, she must face the sudden death of her mother. She chooses to take drastic measures to not follow in her mother’s footsteps.

So here’s an example of a movie raising important issues — about women’s lives — that clearly works and is resonating.

It can be done.  I’ve got it saved in my netflix queue.

Peru film on sexual violence nominated for Oscar (AP via Yahoo)

This morning I have such a feeling of relief over Kathryn Bigelow’s nomination.  Since the Academy has such a shitty track record of honoring women, I thought in back of my mind that they just might give her (and us) the big finger.

But those thoughts have now been displaced, and the good news is that she got nominated.  The better news is that her film, The Hurt Locker — a film directed by a woman — got the same amount of nominations as Avatar — 9. I’m gonna go out on a limb (not very far out though) and say that no other female directed film has ever garnered that many nomination.

But in my joy and relief, I am still reminded of how far we have to go when I got these headlines in my in box describing the nominations:

From CNN: “Avatar,” “Up in the Air” among leading nominees at this year’s Academy Award nominations.”

From the Hollywood Reporter: “James Cameron, ‘Avatar’ among Oscar nominees”

The Hurt Locker got more noms than Up in the Air and was equal to Avatar.  So why doesn’t it rate a headline?

I know I’m nit picking but come on, when is this going to happen again?  When is a movie that is directed by a woman going to match nomination for nomination to the man who calls himself the king of the world?

So beyond her nod for directing which is momentous, lets look at the bigger picture in that her leadership, and yes it is leadership (which is always one of the reasons why women have a hard time with directing — men can’t see them as leading the troops aka the crew) has been rewarded with NINE nominations.

Continue reading ‘Early Thoughts on the Oscar Nominations’

Carey Mulligan

The National Board of Review (NBR)  handed out its awards for 2009 and Jason Reitman’s Up in the Air (which is opening in limited release today) took top honors.  NBR is a mysterious group.  Some film people, some folks not in the business at all.  Here’s how the Hollywood Reporter describes the group: “Voted by the 108-member organization, composed of film enthusiasts and academics,  the NBR Awards are an imprecise indicator of eventual Oscar-worthiness.”

Anna Kendrick

As for the other winners: Carey Mulligan was named best actress for An Education and Anna Kendrick was named best supporting actress for Up in the Air.  (Both are about 23)  Gabourey Sidibe got an “Breakthrough” award for Precious.

The list of the top ten included two women directed films, An Education (Lone Scherfig) and The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow.)

The group also made a list of their top 10 indie films and included on that were: Amreeka (Cherien Dabis) Humpday (Lynn Shelton) and Sugar (co-directed by Anna Boden.)

Up in the Air Wins NBR Best Picture (Hollywood Reporter)

If you read this blog regularly, you know that only three women have been nominated for a best directing Oscar in the 81 years that the Oscars have existed.  Zero wins, three nominations.  Based on a wikipedia count there have been 396 (one year 2 men were nominated together) total nominations and three for women.  That’s .75%.  Not even 1 percent.  Women have been nominated less than 1 percent of the time.  Shameful.

I wanted to learn a little bit about how the nomination process work in order to understand if and how we can get a woman — or multiple women — nominated this year.

First, in order to get a best director nomination you need to be nominated by that branch.  According to the folks at the Academy right now there are 367 members of that branch.  They of course do not share the names and also tell me they don’t do demographic breakdowns.  The winners are voted by the full Academy which currently has 5785 members.

Now there are a couple of ways to become a voting member.  According to the Academy site:

Danish director Lone Scherfig is one of several women being mentioned this year for a potential best director nomination for her critically acclaimed film An Education.  Here’s what I wrote earlier about the film.  She took some time to answer some questions on the road while doing publicity for the film.

Women &Hollywood: So here we are in 2009 and the issue of women directors is still a big issue.  Do you believe that work family balance is as big an issue for male directors in the same way as female directors?

Lone Scherfig: I think as a director you need to have such a strange combination of skills and no one can have all of them.  One is an ability is to be able to leave home for a while, stay up very late or do things that would harm your family life no matter what sex you are.  And maybe it’s easier for men to compromise more but it must be a big loss to them as well.  But the thing for me is that I started out very young and had my daughter quite late so it meant I had a career that was strong enough.  One regret is that I didn’t have my child earlier and had more children.  I’d encourage everyone to do that but you obviously have to pay a price for it.

W&H: Another thing I read is that you said you make films to maintain the language- please explain.

LS: In Denmark we have a state supported system in order to maintain out language so that’s how those films are financed.  It’s a privilege for a director because you are expected to do something that’s not primarily commercial — quality is the first priority — and that’s been really lovely for me because it has meant that I have gotten chances I would not have been able to get in a different system.  It’s also a handicap that the films cannot be seen by very many people because they would have to be subtitled like Italian for Beginners.

W&H: Some if the strongest female voices in directing have come from places where there is state sponsorship for films and here in the US we don’t have that system.  Do you believe that the state sponsored system has enabled you to have the type of career you have now?

LS: Yes I do.  I think it doesn’t only go for women it goes for anyone who is a minority when it comes to media access.  If you want films and media in general that reflect the real world you have to stay open for someone coming in the door to apply for that job who is not an obvious candidate.

W&H: Do you think it made a difference that there were two female producers on your film?

LS: No.  I know that they had talked about that because the writer is a man that it might make sense to have a female director.  But in general it doesn’t attract  me to a job at all when someone says that.  I am interested in projects where they want a good director rather than necessarily a female director.  I’m sure all women say that.  My films are not necessarily about my gender.  The reason why I am privileged enough to say that is that thank god there is a slightly older generation who have prepared that possibility for me.  I am very thankful to women who are 10 to 15 years older than I am that they stood up for someone like me to get those possibilities.

W&H: What women directors do you mean?

LS: Very often it’s women academics, female politicians, film writers.  It’s not the directors.  The directors I feel related to the most are male.  My mom would teach me to mend my dress and to cook like a proper mother and shared her love for the arts and films and literature, but it’s women who are slightly younger (than her) who fought the battle for women.  That combination is what I am really thankful for and that enriches my life immensely.

W&H: There were so many different educations happening and so I wanted to ask you which education do you feel closest to?

LS: I’m a bit like Jenny.  I totally share the appetite that she had for learning that might not be in the syllabus.  And that once she knows and can define what she loves then the education seems to be something that’s driven by appetite rather than duty or ambition.  The things you read and the things you see because you love them is the easiest and the best education to get.

The same thing happened to me.  When I was young when I found out that film was something I could make a career in and I got to university and later to film school and found myself surrounded by people who loved what I loved and that’s when I really got an education and finally did all my homework because I loved it.  That is a privilege.  Loving things does not necessarily mean you have a talent for it.  But I am trying to tell my own daughter that if she fnds something that she loves to do that the money will come.  That may be a false promse because not everyone has that privileged choice.

W&H: You talk a lot about your love for the character of David in the film played by Peter Sarsgaard.    I found him to be a transition figure because he opens doors to the coming revolution in terms of race and class and religion and he provides all the educations and never gets schooled in anything.  Why are you so fond of David?

LS: That’s a brilliant and interesting way you are putting it.  I didn’t think of that.  I think one key for me to all of the characters has been what is that person’s relation to an education.  That’s how I started all the conversations with all the actors and in David’s case he is someone who wants the life he could have had he had an education which he did not have access to.  He doesn’t feel he is lying, he’s just saying what he wants to say and what he believes is right at the moment.  I know that’s how Peter saw him as well.  Neither Peter nor I had any problems in liking him and I always feel that I want to defend David.  You get seduced the way Jenny and her parents are.  Peter says that when David is with Jenny he can get the childhood he never had.  That being said Peter is so experienced for his age and the way he plays his cards when we’ve shot the film out of sequence of course, the way more and more of David’s flaws are revealed is really elegant.  He’s technically and structurally such a skilled actor but the acting is completely emotional and spontaneous and of the moment.  I didn’t cast him.  It came as such a fringe benefit that I was able to work with the best actor.  He was on board the film before I was.

Continue reading ‘Interview with Lone Scherfig- Director of An Education’

One might not think that a story about a 16 year old girl’s seduction by an older man is a movie parents might take their 13 year old son to see, but I found AN EDUCATION, a great opportunity for complex, “coming-of-age” conversations in both life and fiction. It was fascinating to discuss the film with our son.  The lens through which he viewed the story is very different from that of an adult.  He brought no immediate  prejudice to the narrative since life experience has not yet taught him that the disparity in age alone was a sufficient indicator that the relationship was doomed, if not downright dangerous, from the onset.  Through his innocent eyes, he saw only David’s charms, beautifully played by Peter Sarsgaard, instead of the reptilian patience of a predatory deviant.  Only when our son saw the heartbreak that revealed David’s true character did he come to understand that all the generosities lavished upon Jenny, fully realized by Carey Mulligan, had been distractions from the truth.

As a feminist mom, my big ax to grind in popular culture is vulgarism.  I don’t want my son to grow up one more immature, boob-obsessed male with little understanding or appreciation of a female’s character or her anatomy and so I appreciated that the film did not weigh the impact of Jenny’s transgression on the loss of her virginity alone.  Yes, the headmistress, a wonderful Emma Thompson, alluded to the fact that a non-virgin would not have a place in her school, but no one else, including her own parents, highlighted the loss of her virginity as the sole focus of her misguidedness. We are a culture that had devoted entire movies to plots revolving around losing one’s virginity, often stories that minimize this precious bridge to adulthood as something a character wants to get or get rid of.  But in AN EDUCATION, betrayal was the true ruiner and I was glad for our son to see a movie that certainly did not make light of her loss but placed the emphasis on a broader set of values of which her virginity was only a part.

AN EDUCATION heartily has my Feminist Mom’s approval, however I don’t recommend it for every 13 year old and while I am often at odds with the rating system, I do believe that the MPAA got this PG-13 designation right. There is a significant amount of frank sexuality that is disturbing in the film.  David’s peccadilloes include behavior such as baby talk, voyeurism and and using an inanimate object to de-flower Jenny, in order to “get the icky part over with”.  These moments could be uncomfortable for some families yet I believe they are important to talk about. The tip-offs to David’s character flaws are not readily obvious to a teenager. They may not understand that his objectification, infantilization and fear of women is not healthy even though it is pervasive and often acceptable in media. This is exactly where I believe parents have the opportunity to talk to their kids about real intimacy and mature relationships.

At the end of the film, Jenny visits her teacher and begs her to help get back on track with her education.  Seeing Miss Stubb‘s (a wonderful performance by Olivia Williams) sensual, bohemian apartment is a pivotal moment of awakening in Jenny, one in which she senses that “savoir faire” can be so much more than jazz clubs and sexy dresses.  I was impressed that our son commented about that scene and stated that he thought that the filmmakers might have gone further to alter the teacher’s school-marmish appearance as well.  He felt that the matronly glasses should come off, and that she might wear something pretty and feminine to further demonstrate hope and love of life.  But he doesn’t have history to clue him in that her slim, black pants and tight bun, were drenched in arty relevance and that any minute she might have let her hair down and danced to the primitive beat.  I was simply delighted that our baseball-playing,13 year old son, who would have much preferred seeing a film filled with blood and gore, grasped that delicate moment of Jenny’s transformation.

This wonderful film, directed by Ms. Lone Scherfig, was crafted with a delicate touch and a sophisticated, psychological sensibility. I was also dazzled by the performance and characterization of Helen, played by the transcendent Rosemund Pike, as a woman whose Barbie Doll looks don’t completely conceal her shorted circuitry. Along with Dominic Cooper as Danny, their characters enliven the film with a complicated resonance warranting a movie of their own.

My only slight quibble with the film are the very last lines of voice-over in which Jenny now makes herself the myth maker, delivering what boys want, the fantasy of the untouched female.  It tarnished my version of Jenny the truth-seeker, but perhaps that is exactly the point.  In any case, I’m thankful for a thoughtful, provocative film, one that provided many interesting conversations for his feminist mom.

The Toronto Film Festival kicked off this week and there are some very special and excellent films about young women that are getting a lot of notice.  It seems that young women coming of age has emerged as one of the themes of the festival.  The great thing is that all the films look so cool and are getting great notices.

Here’s what Cameron Bailey the festival’s co-director said to IndieWire last week:

“There’s been some really great films about the coming of age of young women,” he said. “It began probably at Sundance with films like ‘An Education’ and ‘Precious’ – two very different approaches to that turf – and then at Cannes in films like ‘Fish Tank.’  With ‘Cracks’ and ‘Tanner Hall’ – two new films that Toronto has – we see [those themes] picked up again.  It’s sometimes with women directors, and sometimes with men, but in every case you’re seeing a kind of new approach to the coming-of-age story. The coming-of-age story of a young man is kind of a staple in the movies, but I think we’re seeing filmmakers pay more attention to how young women come of age and what they’re going through.”

As he says- the coming of age for young men is so common and finally we are starting to pay attention to young women. FINALLY.

Even more important is that the conversation about both Precious and An Education are just beginning as they both get ready to roll out.  I am also going to throw Bright Star in here as a woman’s coming of age story.  Even though it’s basically a love story the growth of Fanny in the relationship and what she has to endure and live with after the death of her beloved is one of those life changing moments.  All three films are potential Oscar bait so I for one am psyched for these films and themes to be a part of our cultural conversation.

Another of the post-Cannes write ups include a supposition that 2009 might be a year where a woman could get a best director nod which would be the first since Sophia Coppola in 2003 for Lost in Translation.  (H/T to Guy Lodge from In Contention for even raising the question.)

Potential contenders include:

Kathryn Bigelow

Jane Campion (New Zealand) – Bright Star- being released by Bob Berney’s (Picturehouse) new company on September 18.  She’s the one with a pedigree and the movie fared quite well out of Cannes.

Lone Scherfig (Denmark) – An Education- did very well at Sundance starring this year’s “it” girl Carey Mulligan.  Will be release this fall.

Kathryn Bigelow (US)- The Hurt Locker- will an Iraq war film really work and will it be the one directed by a woman?  Opens on June 26.

Mira Nair (India) – Amelia- Hilary Swank as Amelia Earhardt.  Opens October 23rd.

Also mentioned are Nora Ephron (US) for Julia & Julia, Andrea Arnold (Scotland) for Fish Tank (didn’t know it had distribution.)  I would also throw Nancy Meyers (US) for her Christmas release with Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin.

Could this be a breakthrough year for women directed films?  If yes, will it have any long term effects or would it be dismissed as a fluke.  I don’t want to get up my hopes too early but just the fact that women are being thought of this way so early in the year is heartening.

Any other contenders I’m missing?

Could female directors hit Oscar paydirt this year?