Carol: Kiss of Fire

Warning: Spoilers.

Carol is an adaptation of the book The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith, starring the adorable Rooney Mara and stunning Cate Blanchett. It was adapted by Phyllis Nagy, who first wrote the script in 1996 and who won an award for adapting the book at the Alliance of Women Film Journalists awards amongst others, and it is directed by Todd Haynes. It is set in the early 1950s and it follows Mara's character Therese as she works in a department store, admiring their toy trains and it follows her as she instantly falls in love with the eponymous Carol, played by Blanchett. It is a stunning film, with a beautiful score, and brilliantly touching acting. It is a joy to watch but most importantly it's a, sadly rare, treat to watch a film about two women falling in love in a way that is respected, equal to other love stories, and that has a bloody happy ending.

The book was inspired by two things in Highsmith's life, a chance meeting she had similar to the one in the film with a woman when she worked in a department store and a relationship she had with an older woman who, just like Carol, had trouble with her divorce and child custody due to taped hotel room meetings and her sexuality as a lesbian. Highsmith wrote the outline for the book in a couple of hours, driven unbeknownst to her by a chicken pox fever. It's amazing to think that there is now an Oscar nominated film that exists because a beautiful woman inspired a young lesbian author into writing a great book, albeit one that her time was not ready for; it was published under a pseudonym, and it took her 38 years after it was published for her to admit it was her novel. I'm glad that we live in a time that is better for lesbians, though there is still a long way to go. I really hope many young lesbians went to see Carol, on first dates or date nights, and enjoyed getting to see a love like theirs on the big screen – one as respected as any other.

However, before I discuss Carol and Therese I want to discuss the men in the film as their presence is repeatedly one that many women experience: a nuisance. There's Therese's boyfriend, someone who thinks people of the same sex can't fall in love, who thinks the things he does for both of them are done because she demands them when she doesn't, and who acts like his feelings for her should outweigh whatever she feels about anything. Then there's the friend who kisses Therese, the man who investigates them – lies to them and helps shatter Carol's life – and it creates an atmopshere where anytime a man comes on screen you're just waiting for them to ruin things for our two female leads; so true to so many women's lives, so brilliant and infuriating. There's Carol's husband, the man who takes her daughter away from her over his anger at the fact she has feelings for people who aren't him, and that those people are women.

It's his possession of Carol that drives that plot in this film, her need to get away from him and the control he holds over their daughter, the control he tries to exercise over her. His jealousy comes out in anger and luckily for us as viewers it doesn't end in violence; though sadly this is not always true in real life, as lesbians are often killed by entitled men who think it is their right to have any woman and that any woman who not only doesn't want him but any man is a criminal who should be punished, who should be killed. It's understandable that a film set in the 50s would be about this conflict, the punishment lesbians faced due to their sexuality; we haven't come as far as perhaps we like to tell ourselves, with women who love women still being discriminated against simply for that very fact. But with time I hope that films, ones that exist in Hollywood, continue recognising the beauty of lesbian love, but that they show that lesbians lives aren't all about tragedy and male violence and anger but that they are as varied and complicated as the films we have been watching for decades.

Carol is a character that in lesser hands would become a two dimensional object, a beautiful enigmatic woman; she'd become a killer or as we saw in BBC's Sherlock a dominatrix, as happened to Irene Adler – The Woman because she was written in a time where no woman was expected to be capable of anything other than being a wife or a mother. But as she was written by someone with a deep love for women, driven by an infatuation with a passing stranger, and adapted by someone who loved this book so much she wrote the screenplay in 1996 she is a fully realised character who is flawed and human, something that is a lot to ask for in a world that thinks this is a lot to ask for. Carol is a great example too of the effort it takes to look effortless; the stress and emotional strain that it takes to appear to others as though you step out of bed stunning, glide through the streets without a care, and take lovers to bed in a swirl of magic and seduction. Instead she is wrapped in the love she has for her daughter, its cost casts a shadow over her new relationships, and almost ends up driving away a woman who makes her feel like she can truly be herself – something that is often the price of women who love men.

As that's what Therese let's Carol be, utterly herself: she lets her cry, lets her love her, lets her have her space when her world is crashing around her. She tells herself it's because she has no substance, because she lets people walk all over her and she doesn't stand up for herself; she might feel like that's true with her boyfriend but for her and Carol I don't see it that way at all. I think she becomes someone that Carol truly needs, someone who can hold her when she needs it and encourage her to be a human, to be a lesbian, and, when she finally gets the courage to be herself. If this film were about Carol and her husband it would have been a film about a broken women, alone in her own marriage, torn between being true to herself and being a mother and it would have tried to force what other films have: that she should swallow her identity, put her husband's wants first and sacrificed everything for a chance to see her daughter. It almost ends that way, it almost ends with her losing it all but Therese's love for her gives this film a happy ending, or as happy as it could get for two lesbian women in the 1950s.

It's a film you could walk away from hoping that that happy ending lasted, that those women found a way to live happily in a house somewhere, raising her daughter whilst Carol finds her calling in life; whilst Therese becomes a renowned photographer, where her favourite photographs are of Carol and Rindy opening their presents at Christmas. But as is always the bittersweet way with feminism it's worth remembering how cruel history has been to lesbians; how they were only really allowed to be close in public because society has little problem with women being friends in an intimate, non-sexual setting more so than men. It's something that needs to be remembered in feminism as we read texts like The Feminine Mystique – an important text for feminism but one that is marred by a woman believing the society she lived in at that time and putting lesbians and women of colour last. I believe it's so important to acknowledge the struggles our lesbian sisters have, that they bring so much to the world, and that they have problems unique to them and that we can help by being allies to them.

Though I am glad to say that Carol is another brick on the road to a better life for lesbians, a world where film understands women, and those who love them. With more room made for women in films - on the screen and behind the scenes - then we can keeping making more and more great films like Carol, more Hollywood films that are open about women's sexuality, and films that treat women like the people they are. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to read The Price of Salt.

Spotlight: It Takes a Village

Warning: Spoilers.

Spotlight is a film that follows the Boston Globe as they uncover the systematic abuse and cover up of young children by Catholic priests. It is a brilliant film that understands its topic well and the impact of the abuse and its cover up, rather than simply sensationalising it. It has a good cast and is well acted by all. The reason I’m writing about it for my feminist blog is because it understands abuse very well and what it does to people; but also it displays the systematic nature of abuse brilliantly which is something films can struggle with. Often when we talk about abuse people have a certain idea of it in their head, they think that it happens and you go to the police and they believe you, investigate, and if they can arrest the person and then that’s it. But unfortunately if anything that is the exception to the rule. As is shown in Spotlight it is more like you’re abused, continuously, you try to get help but those who should listen don’t, your friends tell you to stop talking about it, the very people who should be there for you are the ones who turn their backs on you because they’re people and they believe rape myths, or want to keep their power, or are simply so arrogant and entitled that they think you deserved it and that they have the right to abuse and get away with it.

The film covers the topic from many angles as it wasn’t simply about the abuse from priests, or about the Boston Globe’s Spotlight team investigating it, but about them uncovering a large cover up, first in Boston and then stretching all through the system of the Catholic Church, of this same abuse. It looks at how it was done, how it affected the victims, and how individual men time and again tried hard to brush it under the rug. As it was men, by and large, that this film focused on; when we talk about systems its important remembering we live in a patriarchal world and this means that almost all, if not all, institutions are run by men. That’s not a value judgement or a myth or conspiracy but simple fact. Men run everything, they’re in the top positions of power almost everywhere and even where they’re not they still make up the majority of the rest of the powerful positions and even non-powerful positions. It’s worth remembering this because men on a patriarchal level feel entitled to most everything and this translates to their desire to control, abuse, and not even question it or the cover up.

In the film there was one priest in particular who Rachel McAdam’s character spoke to who simply, with no shame clarified that yes he’d molested young boys but that the focus of his actions should not be on what he did but that he isn’t gay. It was important to him, as a Catholic man, that his sexuality not be questioned as being homosexual was a much worse crime than the systematic abuse of children. But this also brings up a very important point that the film also slightly touched upon, that this abuse isn’t about sexuality or sexual desire but about control and power.

Though there was a part where one person who had studied these men somewhat blamed priest’s forced celibacy on their abuse it is, in my opinion, a misplaced blame. Celibacy was brought about for priests simply to stop the nepotism that was happening within the church. It is a very big lie that men have told themselves, and the rest of us, that men need sex; water, air, warmth, shelter and food are the things humans need but notice how sex isn’t one of them? Women account for 1% of rapes, a small percent of paedophiles, and a small, small amount of those who pay for sex and that is because all of those things are nothing to do with sex but to do with power and control. There are many women not having sex and they aren’t abusing because humans don’t need sex and men are not some special case they’re just kidding themselves.

It is clearer then that the abuse of young boys and girls is about a desire to manipulate, ruin lives, exercise control and power over vulnerable – often the most vulnerable – children as you follow the cover up. These men in the Catholic Church, the news, and other institutions such as law, spent a lot of time, effort and no doubt money to hide what these men did because they had the power to do so and they didn’t want to lose that power and face the consequences of their actions. This desire for power, the abuse that stems from having this power, and the evading of the consequences is a very common theme in films it’s just often not named, pointed out or used as the focus point of the film.

In Spotlight it has its Bad Guys who have clearly done wrong time and again but also it makes clear how the people you thought were Nice Guys were horrible all along. For instance, there is a character who is in the church who is friends with one of the reporters, Michael Keaton’s character, and we watch them do simple things like play golf, attend an event, have a beer and all the while this man knows the=at what his friend is investigating is real, widespread, and he too has been complicit in the cover up. This is another thing that often gets caught up in the myth that systematic abuse is some strange, unique scandal, these men are ordinary men not monsters, they have friends and wives and eat toast and brush their teeth during the times they’re not covering up abuse or committing it. It is important to remember these are ordinary men because it means they can be stopped, they can be caught by the police and brought to justice – but only if the other ordinary people help.

This is where it’s important to note that systematic abuse relies on many things but most importantly it relies on others believing that abuse isn’t really that bad, that the victims brought it upon themselves, and that the problem is someone else’s to deal with. Often when a victim comes forward with an accusation of abuse large amount of the public can be very quick to accuse them of lying, to make them the villain, and to choose to live in a world where women and children are horrible liars rather than a world where a portion of men are horrible abusers. The reality is the second world but it won’t go away if we pretend we live in the first, it’s that simple. People responded to this scandal, as is shown in the film, with shock that all of this happened and that it got covered up time and again but when you see how victims are treated it’s not that shocking; it’s actually pretty standard, even when its children coming forward, and it just helps things like this happen again.

The film is set in 2001 and there have been jokes about it being a historical piece, with technology so out of date and something so established and acknowledged being new and shocking but in terms of how people respond to victims it may as well be set today. As a public, as the institutions of law, and of newspapers many still respond to victims with the automatic response that they are liars, out of money and fame – as though any of these things are what meet victims, instead of hatred, death threats, and ruined lives. We still have so far to go in believing survivors, listening to their stories and trying everything we can to get them help, justice and men being held accountable for their choices and actions. Until we do we are helping nourish a system that can abuse freely and hide it for decades. We need to be more like Spotlight, thinking critically and reaching out with empathy and listening to those who have important stories to tell.

Room: My Strong

Warning: Spoilers (For the film, and the book)

Room is a film based on the book of the same name, both written by Emma Donoghue, and directed by Lenny Abrahamson who was so passionate about directing the film that he wrote a letter to Donoghue herself to ask to make it. The start of the film is an almost perfect adaptation of the book that it was a total joy to watch; to see these things I'd read about come to life, with the perfectly cast Jacob Tremblay playing Jack and Brie Larson playing Ma, or Joy Newsome as we learn in the film. It's brilliantly acted, directed and though I was slightly distracted in the second act by the differences in plot and themes it was still brilliant to watch. So instead of just discussing the film I will talk about the things it missed out too, not as a value judgement of the film – any book adaptation with so much to cover is almost certainly going to lose a large portion of its plot – but as a need to discuss the book and how it relates to feminism.

I would obviously not read this if you haven't watched the film but especially if you want to read the book I'd come back afterwards, and then we can have a lovely little chat about how great it is. I read Room in two days so I could watch the film and it was extremely easy to do that because it reads so well. I admire Donoghue in how she adapted her work to the screen, the second half changes setting dramatically due to the fact that there is a lot of time spent in places, and with a lot of characters, and it simply wouldn't have worked. It changed a lot about the motivations for one of the key things in the film/book – seriously, spoilers: Ma's suicide attempt; for instance in the book it is the TV interview that causes her to question herself to the point of attempting to take her own life, the suggestion that she didn't do what was best for Jack whereas in the film it's a lot of things – from her fighting with her Mum, to a shortened interview, and to problems adjusting to her old life.

However, Room is an utterly brilliant adaptation as it captures the same themes that the book does: from Jack in all his glory, to Ma in all of hers, and to all the complexities of male violence and the damage it causes. I will say now however that my only problem with the film – aside from it removing characters of colour in one area for no apparent reason – is that it ever so slightly tries once to humanise Old Nick; it's only a brief moment, as Jack is pretending to be dead, but he stops in his garden and looks bad, looks sad for Joy and what's she's lost and to me that was unncessary. Film's understandably have a harder job than books do at getting certain themes and emotions across but this is one thing that should never, even slightly be in Room. Old Nick is not a redeemable character, and as much as it's is hard to hear there are men like him in the world who are just not redeemable either.

Old Nick is not based off nothing, he's based off quite a few men in the history of this world who have committed similar atrocities: abducting a woman, or fathering a woman and keeping her locked up in a room for a very, very long time – and often when that woman is in that room raping her repeatedly and, often, impregnating them as is our opening for Room. There are men who day in day out, second to second, happily keep a woman locked up, as though she is literally not human and use her as a plaything. It happens in a world that, yes, is patriachal and it happens because men are told each day, every day since birth that they are entitled to the half of the population that are weaker than them, and who are routinely dehumanised for times such as that. It's not rocket science, it's not complicated, there is no great humanity flaw that causes men to keep commiting violence – it's patriachy.

But what I would rather talk about when it comes to Room though is the brilliant Jack and Ma, those who are hurt the most by male violence but that, as Room shows, can still say fuck you and bloom all the same. Jack is five as we start the film, his fifth birthday even, and whilst he has spent his entire life in Room it is no problem for him; after all how can you miss what you never knew existed? As we see it is actually Jack coming into the world, his mind bursting at trying to understand an entire universe that he never knew was real that is Room's focus. Again, there are sadly humans in this world who have lived lives like Jack, who have been hidden from humanity and have had to learn to adjust – though not all were as lucky to have Ma. In the book Joy was adbucted when she was 19 though in the film, presumably to adjust for Brie Larson, it was when she was 17. Both of which are insanely admirable, as we get a teenager, thrown into an impossible situation and yet when her world is changed again she adapats and survives as women are wont to do. She uses what she learnt in school – bringing Track and Phys Ed into their world – and she teaches it to Jack.

It's this amazing mothering, this strength of mothers to do all they can in their power – no matter their lack of it – to raise their children that is a testemant to women. Ma teaches Jack how to talk, using the TV to help and increase his vocabulary, she teaches him maths, how to write and draw, and even teaches him how to sew and other things. It is this start in life that saves him, that helps him grow into an adorable narrator, if not one that still had the moods and tantrums that all children – and adults – have. As Ma grows up in that room she too learns new skills of survival, such as how to ask Old Nick for things that he will actually bring them, how to eat just enough to stay alive so Jack can eat more, and how to make do and mend in the most extreme of cases – Egg Snake anyone.

In a world where women are routinely and daily killed, abused, degraded, objectified in the most extreme and small sense it is important to recognise the strength that women have simply to survive; their ability to be human, and to keep what makes them human, in the face of male monsters. Women live in a world where acid is thrown on their faces and they still say fuck you you can't stop me. They're incredible, but they also shouldn't have to be as men shouldn't have created this world where they can abuse and get away with it, legally and socially in many senses. However, it's the times that women can't quite handle all of this that other women become so important, that feminism itself becomes a lifeline to help. In the book/film it's Jack that keeps her grounded, that keeps her going and in her darkest hour in the film it's what saves her, he's her strong.

Donoghue also understands the very real, physical and visceral aspect of being a mother, as is shown throughout the book. From the physical toil that her body takes from being abused by Old Nick just so Jack isn't touched, to the malnourishment she suffers to keep Jack as healthy as possible, and in a continuing theme in the book to the breastfeeding she does until not long after they've escaped. It's this last point that is only mentioned a few times in the film: her breastfeeding in Room, her mother being surprised that she still breastfeeds him – with Joy finding it ironic that out of all the things that she finds disturbing about what happened in Room it's that – and when she tells Jack that it's over. In the book Jack refers to it simply as 'some', it's never really mentioned as something that's different, and in fact the moment Jack is told that he can't have any again he simply kisses her breasts and says bye. Her body kept producing milk for years because Jack needed it, because there wasn't enough food for Jack to keep him going, and it's fitting with the rest of the book/film as Ma's literal being is what keeps Jack alive.

In the film rather than the book when they escape Jack and Ma go and live with her mother and her partner Leo; her father is briefly there though he doesn't stay as he selfishly puts his feelings at being weirded out by Jack's existence over being there for his daughter who has returned from, what he thought was, the grave. Whereas in the book Jack and Ma spend a couple of weeks in a rehab clinic – with Noreen and Dr Clay and all the rest- and then after the TV interview – done to get money for Jack's college fund – that causes Ma to attempt suicide Jack goes on his own to stay with Grandma and Leo. This changes the second act of the film dramatically, it causes us to see a different side of all characters; though it does mean Jack finally gets to hang out with a dog, make friends, and see his mother's room – unchanged since she was taken (though in the book it's a fitness suite as Joy's mother assumed she was dead).

In the book I enjoyed their time at the clinic is an as much as it was interesting to see Ma attempt to rediscover the world, who she was and how she fit into it – like when she tries to e-mail her old friends only to realise that they, and technology, moved on without her. But also the little things about what it does to a person to never go outside for the first five years of their life; Jack needs to wear special sunglasses, have vaccines, wear a mask. He suffers a cold for the first time, he is petrified of rain, and the wind freaks him out. It's as Dr Clay says in the book, he's like a baby but one who can add up and articulate his emotions. It's an extremely compelling read and as someone who has a degree in Childhood Studies it really reminds me why I love teaching, the sheer joy children can be and how amazing it is to show a big, often weird and wonderful world to them.

There are also lots of funny little things in the book that happen when Jack leaves Room and one of those is how often he's mistaken for a girl. It's understandable when one of our shortcuts for what sex a stranger is is long hair but it's one that Donoghue understands can be funny and arbitrary – though as I've mentioned sex is important as it is Ma's female sex that brought him into this world and thusly kept him alive. There is a moment in the book when Jack, whilst Ma is recovering away from him, that he goes to the shops with his Uncle Paul, his wife Deanna and their daughter Bronwyn – characters not in the film for time purposes I assume – and it's another moment that made me laugh, if not a little bitterly. Jack has his long hair as per and whilst they're shopping he sees a Dora backpack and it is the most amazing thing he has ever seen, he loves Dora the Explorer; he watched it a lot in Room, he loves that she knows his name, he hates naughty Swiper, and he sees any language that isn't English as being Spanish as a result. So he just has to have it, and there's a moment where Paul doesn't want him to have it because Dora is For Girls, he tries to wave a Spider-man bag at Jack but Jack is having none of it. It was amusing to think that gender is so arbitarily encoded into their adult brains that they thought a kid who'd grown up in one room would care that Dora is For Girls and that spider-man is For Boys. Jack is Jack, a boy because his body says so and that means nothing more than that.

Room is a brilliant film, so touching and entertaining despite it's horrific subject matter. Its a great display of how strong women and children are in the face of male violence, of how precious life can be, and of the bond between mother and child. If you haven't already I seriously suggest you read the book, it's a joy to see the world through Jack's unique eyes and it only betters the already amazing film. It's great to have a real, complicated woman on film – one who struggles, who survives, and who is thoroughly human. We don't get to see women be human on screen as much as we should, instead they're often see as disposable as Old Nick see's women, simply there for sex and not for talking or anything else. I look forward to see more from Larson and Tremblay and I hope that this film helps us get that little bit closer to getting rid of the Old Nick's of this world and creating it that little bit more in Jack's image.

Alternate Valentine's Day Films

Valentine’s Day can be a perfect time to sit and watch romantic films with your boyfriend but for those of us who have been with their other half for a long time, or who just don’t have the stomach for romance films there are still plenty of films to watch. Below is a list of films that have a romantic element but that are a bit different from the likes of Valentine’s Day. There is also a list of romantic films that don’t involve pretending stalking is romantic (or cromantic as the disturbing This Means War calls it) or that don’t romanticise abuse like the awful Fifty Shades of Grey, see here). Either way I hope you enjoy these films as much as I did.

Super Alternate Valentine’s Day Films

1)      SuperBob

SuperBob is a mockumentary style film about a man called Bob who gets hit by a meteor and gets super powers. But unlike Superman Bob is just a very ordinary, awkward man and the film perfectly shows what would actually happen if ordinary people suddenly got powers. It’s painfully funny as we follow Bob’s constant faux pas. It’s a charming film that really explores the power of saying no, finding love that’s been staring you in the face, and I highly recommend it. Plus how often does a film mention House of Leaves!

2)      Night of the Living Deb

This film is a zom-rom-com and it takes places just after a one night stand as a man tries to get rid of Deb on a morning only to find that a zombie apocalypse has happened overnight. It’s a very funny film that really gets how great of a lead it has in Deb, a very awkward and weird woman. It has its problems in certain characters but ultimately it has its humour, its romance and plenty of zombies. Definitely one for those who love their zombie films a bit different like me.

3)      The One I Love

This is a film for those couples who have been together a long time as it follows a couple trying to fix their marriage after one cheated. We see them taking their couples therapist’s advice to go and spend a long weekend in a cabin. I can’t give away much of the plot but let’s just say that it getting put in the supernatural category on Netflix was what finally made me watch it. It’s a surprisingly funny, romantic depending on who you are, and interesting film. Definitely one to watch if you’re tired of couples overcoming every obstacle with a big gesture or an adrenaline fuelled adventure, or a night of murdering if you’re in Purge Anarchy.

4)      Grabbers

Grabbers is an Irish monster film that I watched on Netflix, and I fell in love immediately. It’s so ridiculous, funny, and yes kinda romantic in its own weird way. It follows the locals of a small town after a weird monster emerges from the sea and starts causing havoc… especially if you happen to be drunk. It’s definitely not a film for everyone but I think you should give it a watch to see if you love it like I do. I don’t want to give much away because I can’t do justice to how ridiculous but great this film is. Seriously, go watch it and if you loved it you can just thank me later.

Alternate Romance Films

1)      Romantics Anonymous

Romantic Anonymous is a French film that is on the UK Netflix at the moment and it is about a woman who makes chocolates. She is so nervous and awkward and she falls for a guy who is probably more nervous than she is. It’s very cute, charming, and endearing. It was a huge joy to watch, and I would recommend it to anyone who loves romance and can happily read subtitles.

2)      In Your Eyes

In Your Eyes is another film I found on UK Netflix that I absolutely fell for, it is about a couple, miles apart, who find one day that they can see through each other’s eyes. It’s unique and really understands what it would be like to actually be in the mind of someone else and how that might cause a bond unlike any other. It stars the brilliant Zoe Kazan, who is perfect in The Pretty One, and That Hot Guy From Cloverfield. It’s a great film for romantics but just like The One I Love it’s great for those who want a bit of brain and difference in their films.

3)      Remember Sunday

Remember Sunday stars Zac Levi and Alexis Bledel and is about a woman who falls in love with a man who has amnesia. It’s not the most original concept but it doesn’t feel like you’re watching the same film as others. It handles it with all the emotion you’d expect and it was quite heart breaking as you’d also expect. It looks at what it would be like to try to remember falling in love every day and what the struggle to stay in love can be. It’s not as creepy as 50 First Dates where *spoilers* we’re left with a woman waking up every day to see she’s pregnant with a baby she has no memory of.

4)      Timer

Timer is another film I found on Netflix (so I have a lot of free time on my hands) and another that I found to be unique and weirdly lovely in its own way. It takes place in a world where every person has the option of getting a watch installed on, well in, their wrist that will count down to them meeting their one true love. It asks would this be a good thing or a bad thing, what would it be like dating someone knowing you’re not each other’s true love, and would it actually matter if you felt that you loved them anyway? Or what if you weren’t ready to fall in love again but that your time was up?

An Anti-Valentine Film: The Loved Ones.

This is a horror film for those who are a bit pissed, whether it’s because your boyfriend is being a jerk, because men are just jerks, or you just want to watch a decent horror film. It’s about Lola who wants the best prom that takes place in her own home where the other guests are your Dad and a woman who can’t talk… It’s brutal, unforgiving at times, and while I definitely wouldn’t call it feminist I will say that it shows what happens when an unhinged woman is a bit sick of never getting the man that she wants…

If you can think of anymore films that would fit, or that you love and want me to check out feel free to let me know in the comments or on Twitter @feministfilms.