Last Monday we opened French class with a discussion of this year’s French Film Festival. One of the questions my teacher asked was what difference we noticed between French and American (read: Hollywood) movies. There were a number of suggestions, but for me the answer was all around us: the classroom is covered in posters, and they show one of the most salient differences: women. More specifically, women of all ages.
It’s a real feature of the program that there are many films in which women are the principle characters, sure, but women in their 40s, 50s, and 60s. You might say that the festival is winnowed down to higher quality movies, and you’d be right, but think of popular quality movies from the States in the last two years that feature women in that age range which feature them as serious and interesting characters.
You’ll struggle.
The thing is, this is the norm, both ways. And it’s not just serious French film, either. My movie collection includes all manner of lighter movies (and a number of TV shows) and whether they’re action films like La Femme Nikita, Brotherhood of the Wolf (Le Pact des Loups), or The Bride Wore Black, or more serious and weighty material, women are much more notably to the fore in French cinema than I’m used to seeing in US movies, and even more notably, they are of far more varied ages and roles.