Female Cine Portraiture: Part 2
The list 'Female Cine Portraitures' came out of my wish to portrait female characters as opposed to female 'roles' of the movies that are based on books and screenplays written by women about women. Characters have something unique about them including their aspirations and expression of such, and roles are simply 'labels' assigned to individuals by the society. For example, mother, sister, daughter, girl-friend, wife, lover are 'roles', and the rebel, innovator, creator, writer, queen, independent etc are characters. One can say referring to a character: 'She a creator'. What it means is that the character creates her life, situations, relationships, as well as tangible things.
For the Part 2 of the list, I have chosen the following female characters of the movies set in 40s, 50s, 60s of the 20th century: the student, the chef, the movie maker, the enthusiast, the writer, and the photographer.
The Student
The student never stops learning. She is inquisitive about life in general and any subject that interests her in particular. The student is openminded towards the environment and people who can show her other side of the same coin or anything which is different from her own learnt and accustomed to world.
An Education (2009)
Based on the memoir Lynn Barber
Directed by Lone Scherfig
Jenny: I'm going to read what I want, and listen to what I want, and I'm going to look at paintings and watch French films, and I'm gonna talk to people who know lots about lots.
The Chef
The chef rules sensations and their fulfilment. She creates emotional palette of tangible delights that she offers to others as her gifts in order for them to experience joy of life and physical being through her labours and fruits of nature. The chef can be also referred to as the creator of sensations. She interacts with the world through her gastronomical creations.
Julie & Julia (2009)
Based on the novel by Julia Child
Written and directed by Nora Ephron
[Paul Child to Julia Child]: You are the butter to my bread, you are the breath to my life.
The Movie Maker
The movie maker creates stories all around her. She pulls together visual resources to create worlds that would inspire and excite others. She sees elements in the whole and the whole in each element. No story is too short or too long for her. For her, the environment is the story in itself.
Their Finest (2017)
Screenplay by Gaby Chiappe
Directed by Lone Scherfig
They're afraid they won't be able to put us back in the box when this is over, and it makes them belligerent.
The Enthusiast
The enthusiast is passionate, dedicated, and willing to improve the environment with her passion alone. Not that it works every time, but she is on the mission nevertheless. Her passion might or might not ignite others but her inner compass guides her through any difficulties. Improving, upscaling, and transforming is her goal.
The Bookshop (2017)
Based on the novel by Penelope Fitzgerald
Written and directed by Isabel Coixet Castillo
Florence Green: While there's life, there's hope.
The Writer
The writer is expresses, transcribes and communicates. She is a messenger of emotions, feelings, knowledge, observations. She shapes reality and relationships into words and passes the message to others. See also 'Mary Shelly' in the Part 1.
Saving Mr. Banks (2013)
Screenplay by Kelly Marcel and Sue Smith
P.L. Travers: Disappointments are to the soul what thunderstorms are to the air.
The Photographer
The photographer loves capturing fleeting moments of life. She sees beauty in everything. No scene is too trivial for her. She communicates with the world through her photographs arranged as pieces of a puzzle into different visual stories and messages that she sometimes shares and sometimes not.
Carol (2015)
Based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith
Screenplay by Phyllis Nagy
Therese Belivet: I don't know what I want. How could I know what I want if I say yes to everything?
Female Cine Portraitures: Part 1, Part 3
The list researched and complied by Seraphima Bogomolova.