Shirley Gardner is not going to be anyone’s sex kitten.
Pamela Anderson plays entertainer in Gia Coppola’s gauzy drama the last showgirl She thought she was just a dancer in rhinestones and feathers at a long-standing (but soon-to-be-ended) burlesque show in Las Vegas. In a humiliating audition for another raunchy Las Vegas revue, the 57-year-old’s character, a busty blond dreamer, stands on stage in front of a sleazy producer (Jason Sy Wattsman), he cuts her performance short.
“Obviously, you were hired by Razzle Dazzle because you were pretty and young a long time ago,” he told her. “But I mean, let’s be honest. You were hired because you were hot and you were young. If… you don’t understand that’s not what you’re selling anymore, I don’t know how to help you, baby. Exit one.
Shirley is one of many mature female film protagonists this Oscar season, dealing with the pressures of aging in a career that overvalues youth and attractiveness. substance, the last showgirl, baby girl, night bitch, Maria —The theme of all trades is aging gracelessly. And, perhaps for the first time since Diane Lane hinted at what might have happened during the 2002 smoldering incident disloyalwhich makes up a group of films that take a fearless look at the psyche of women above a certain age, assessing their ever-depreciating value in the sexual marketplace.
These films feel like a statement, even a movement, with highly personal stories told by mostly female filmmakers that nonetheless remain implicit social critiques that not only embrace taboos but will often Humanizing things that are treated with comic disdain. They ask: How do we maintain power when our bodies—our most important resource, at least for those who hold power—are changing? Is it a failure even if you try?
It seems no accident that these films took shape in the wake of the #MeToo movement, which crystallized the need for such stories among female filmmakers and may have even fostered a sense of distributors and financiers (at least in the indie genre) about their potential for audiences. belief. The Golden Globes’ decision to nominate most of the film’s leading actresses proves the accuracy of these intuitions.
Babygirl Cinema’s movies aren’t afraid to criticize their heroes. Nearly every example in this post-era lineup features a fading dynamo staring down the barrel of (subjectively defined) irrelevance. In order to gain attention or security, they allowed themselves to be commodified when it suited them, and now they resent the fact that they can no longer draw inspiration from their own charisma. As their appeal wanes, these women may go to great lengths to maintain their once glorious power.
Ironically, for some, this grip is the only way to escape sexism, either mentally or physically. Coralie Farget’s Bizarre Body Horror Fantasy substance Demi Moore stars as a naive aerobics star who is forced out of her job due to ageism. To take back control, she turns to a mysterious drug that allows her to share her life with a younger, more gorgeous version of herself (Margaret Qualley), a flesh-and-blood puppet spun from herself. The crunching splinters of blood and bones increasingly make Moore’s character a reality.
baby girl Romy (Nicole Kidman), on the other hand, uses pleasurable sex (not just sexual attraction) to stave off the future decline in status she fears in middle age. In Halina Reijn’s erotic thriller, Kidman’s corporate boss lady explores her desire for power through taboo submissive sex with a much younger subordinate (Harris Dickinson) of subversion.
A different kind of youthful pain permeates the air the last showgirl Shirley longs for the past, with casinos selling out and her and her dance partners flying around the world. There are two more Maria and night bitch Highlights the struggle of women who also worry that they have passed their artistic peak and long to find something that will restore them.
Maria Angelina Jolie stars as opera icon Maria Callas in Pablo Larraín’s downbeat biopic about a woman who actually lost her life during World War II The story of being forced into sex work by her mother, the film is a painful look at the scars that still remain at 53 years old. night bitchThrough careful editing, director Marielle Heller illustrates how Addams’ character has become unpopular in her cosmopolitan art world simply because of the act of having a baby. As the film progresses, she awkwardly grasps her past identity while experiencing strange physical phenomena that truly mirror the changes she undergoes as she becomes a mother.
Of course, powerful women of yesteryear lashing out at impending insignificance are sometimes a staple of Hollywood movies. The apotheosis is the delusional heroine Norma Desmond sunset strip. But framing the debate in purely sexual terms, with messy yet authentic female perspectives and protagonists, is a newer phenomenon that contrasts with lovable gentlemanly demeanor. harold and maudeThe titular dame (Ruth Gordon), Sylvia Myers’s campy midnight cowboy and Lee Grant shampooor even a clearer empowerment arc for Angela Bassett How Stella got back to her best.
It’s also hard to ignore that some of today’s stars—Moore, Anderson, Jolie, Kidman—have been lambasted by the tabloids for sex and marriage scandals, and in these films one can almost see the Reckoning and Denial: This Pop Culture Abuse.
There’s a movie that serves as a counterpoint to the energy that these older characters struggle to resurrect. Sean Baker’s Anora It follows Ani (Madison Maddison), a 20-something stripper and occasional prostitute who uses her greatest resource—her body—as both a political tool and an economic weapon. Helped marry the son of a Russian oligarch. Arnie thought it was always sharp. women substance, Maria and night bitch Might be a reminder of how it will turn against her one day.
This story first appeared in the December Independence issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
