I don't think Hollywood (or any other mainstream movie production centre for that matter) has ever been able to figure out the complexities of Female Led Relationships or Female Dominance or male chastity or any of their associated sub-genres. It's way too left of centre for them. The thought of it scares the bean-counters and so there have rarely been any serious attempts to investigate the story possibilities of any of these wonderful relationship dynamics. Once you've seen Maitresse and the Burgundy film (sorry, I've just forgotten its correct title) there really isn't much else and even those films aren't exactly masterpieces. Maitress has a few good moments but there's a lot of dead air in between. And Exit To Eden is embarrassingly awful, to put it politely. In my opinion, the movies with the strongest female characters are to be found in the Film Noir genre between the early 40s and the late 50s (basically killed off by the advent of TV). These women were seriously proud of the power of their sexuality and weren't afraid to use it. Many of these cheap little black & white movies got away with depictions of strong sexual women refusing to be pushed around that the higher-budget A-Pictures could only dream of. They were also women who didn't have to die at the end of the film in order to find redemption or to pay for their many perceived sins. They flaunted their sins and won. For truly dominant female characters try: Gilda (1946) - Rita Hayworth Laura (1944) - Gene Tierney High Sierra (1941) - Ida Lupino Out Of The Past (1947) - Jane Greer The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) - Lana Turner Double Indemnity (1944) - Barbara Stanwyck Mildred Pierce (1945) - Joan Crawford Sunset Boulevarde (1950) - Gloria Swanson And, of course, many more. True Goddesses of the silver screen.
Is this the first post in CM history that nobody has read or even visited? It say below 0 and 0. That must be some kind of record! Please somebody read it one day. I love those films. The women in them - both the 'good' girls and the delightfully 'bad' ones - are all such well drawn multi-dimensional characters. Unlike some recent movies I could mention. Anyway, I'm shooting for 1 and 1 by the end of the week! I know it's a bit off-topic.
I'm reading it! I studied film as part of my Degree and I am sure I remember that in many of these films that depict strong, sexually liberated women, they regularly were killed off or married off to a strong male, to show how that sort of lifestyle is never allowed to continue or be successful. I'm not saying your list have that sort of thing happening though. One of my all time favorite films was Nikita, the French film showing a woman being turned into an assasin. It was remade into the godawful Assasins and the TV show called Nikita was loosely based on the film. The original is brilliant though. Leon is also interesting as the trainee assasin is a young girl, though these days people tend to be uncomfortable with the paedophillic undertones.
Jasmic, I agree Nikita was great. Must watch it again, it's been a while. I also agree with your assessment of the Bridget Fonda one, The Assassin. It's not in the same class. There is an American neo-noirish remake of a French film noir classic, however, that I think surpasses the original. The remake of Godard's Breathless, in my opinion, is a much better film (and I love the original as well). It's directed by a much under-rated American director, Jim McBride. It stars Richard Gere. Jemima, I must have another look at The Duke Of Burgundy, it's probably a far better movie than I originally thought. I'm pleased that you regard it so highly. I'm trying to think of the woman's name in Breathless, but she is eluding me. I know as soon as I post this I'll think of it. Anyway, she's sensational (not a major star) and makes Richard Gere work for his money.
You should check out The Hairdresser's Husband - it's very French and with subtitles and she's not really dominant - but boy is he submissive! It doesnt come up in the film, but I bet he wore a cage.
The truly women dominant movie were in the thirties and 40s. Bacall, Davis, Harlow,Crawford, Hayworth, Garbo, and my favorite Mae West all were decades ahead of their time. Tv didn't kill these wonderful films and the characters portrayed in them, unfortunately it was the rating system. Due to a very male dominated film industry, they were threatened by the controversial roles being played by women. Instead of worrying about being censored, they decided to instigate their own rating system. Any movie that had a woman smoking, have strong assertive role, had a lover, or any exposed skin, would not be rated (nr). Soon theaters could not afford to have show these films, and any movie without an acceptable rating stopped being shown at all. Tv of the 40s and 50s followed the movies that were popular at the time...family friendly, with a general audience rating(G). There is my useless information of the week.