Jennifer Schofield

Peter Decherney

CINE 039-950

9 June 2015

Methods of Female Empowerment in the Filmic System

The year 2015 marked the 68th Cannes Film Festival, which showcased an

exorbitant number of films. Each of these films fell into their respective categories, upheld

specific themes, and attempted to reach new, original ground. Every film competed with

hundreds of others for viewers. To put this into perspective, consider the fact that there

were just shy of fifty different theatres that were screening festival films at any given time

during festival hours. Despite the inevitable struggle that lay ahead with such fierce

competition looming, the themes offered by the films served as a point of separation

insofar as determining what was original and what lacked uniqueness. Themes ranged

from free love to rape culture, male power to female empowerment, forbidden love to

forced marriage, intellectual narrative to simplistic plot, and hundreds more.

One of the predominant themes that recurred during this particular festival was that

of female empowerment, despite the differing modes that it took. This overarching theme

captured many of the films, including those that exemplified the female struggle, those that

commenced with a female in a power position, and even those that served to provide a

commentary on female recovery post-sexual violation. A significant number of films

competed for originality in this realm, and several were innovative enough to stand out

amongst the others that resided in this category. All in all, it is to be noted that themes of

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female empowerment, in many differing forms, were a largely substantial portion of the

68th Cannes Film Festival. Moreover, many films that fell into these categories earned

renown for their novel narratives and insightful commentary.

Longstanding Perseverance with a Positive Outcome

Throughout the festival screenings, and most notably in the Competition films, there

was a recurring theme of female empowerment through longstanding perseverance, often

with an eventual female-favorable outcome. In these films, there were typically many

smaller battles that were won by either the female or her opponent, but of which the

female won just enough battles to ultimately win the war, as the saying goes. Essentially,

these films were composed of a narrative that was strung together by such moments, and

had background material in between: A long film with a narrative based in these

connecting battles to create an outcome where the woman has ultimately “won”.

One example of this is prominently displayed in a selected competition film, Mon

Roi, directed by Maïwenn. Told from the perspective of female character Tony, the film was

constructed of many glimpses into her past as she recovered from a skiing injury that was

set in the present. Each of these “glimpses”, which actually served as the primary narrative,

showcased one of the small battles that had occurred between her and Georgio, with whom

she had once had a rocky, longstanding relationship. As noted in Variety, “…Maïwenn has

adopted a strategy very much in vogue with mainstream French cinema, wherein conflicts

and character are revealed through seemingly ordinary circumstances, rather than head-on

in capital-D dramatic scenes” (Debruge). This is true for much of the film, as the beginning

arguments start with conflicts over mundane things, such as chores and hours spent

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together. As the plotline progresses, some of the scenes of the couple become more

dramatic. Despite this, the most intense scenes occur not in the couple’s highly emotional

relationship, but rather in the scenes that take place in the present at Tony’s rehab facility.

Her rehabilitation experiences serve to exemplify the emotions she is reliving due to her

renewed reflection on her past relationship. One of the more dramatic scenes occurs when

she is pushing herself beyond her physical limits while completing exercise to aid in her

healing process. At this highly powerful point in the film, she overworks herself to the

point of re-fracturing her knee. The pain that she experiences is parallel to the emotional

turbulence experienced in her relationship with Georgio.

Following the flip-flop narrative, the film concludes with the couple going through

their divorce proceedings. At this point, Tony is liberated in a way that only true

separation from Georgio could provide. The camera pans from her to Georgio, before

zooming to an extreme close-up that pans over his face, showing a dimple, a smile, a head

nod, and other slight-but-charming movements that appear to serve as devices to reconcile

the differences between Tony and himself. Despite this, his abuse (emotional,

psychological and at points even physical), recklessness (leaving suddenly, buying a second

apartment without communicating his actions), and desire to get what it is that he wants

when he wants it (suddenly wanting a child in the middle of the night, denying a divorce

because of its inconvenience) are all weaknesses that are too severe to be rectified with a

single, though beautiful, camera shot.

Despite the fact that the camera shot is unable to truly convince the viewer of his

goodness, it can (and does) appeal to the idea that the two of them may just be

incompatible as a couple. Therefore, it serves to wrap up the film in a way in which Tony is

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able to come out “on top”: She is successfully separated from this man who has caused her

profound pain, has found healing in her rehabilitation center (for more than just her skiing

injury), and has come to view her ex as a good person with whom she is just not able to

have a healthy, functioning relationship. These components work to free her from her ten-

year relationship that may have been the driving force behind her skiing incident. The film

concludes by positioning her as having overcome the negative impacts of the relationship,

and allows her to have a fresh start.

Insofar as festival reception goes, the leading actress of Mon Roi, Emmanuelle

Bercot, won Best Actress. Interestingly enough, she won it alongside Rooney Mara, who

starred in a film with much the same theme and style as mentioned above, called Carol.

This film, expertly directed by Todd Haynes, explored the issues that existed for another

couple in a heterosexual relationship, and the rectifying point at the end when Carol (Cate

Blanchett) left her significant other in order to pursue a homosexual relationship with

Therese, played by Mara. The actresses in each have created a phenomenal sort of

difficulty in their relationships that resonates deeply with the viewers. Noted by Manohla

Dargis in The New York Times, “Part of the frisson of the romance is how Carol and Therese

find each other…in opposition to their designated gender roles: Carol is married and

Therese has a boyfriend who’s eager to wed her. The women choose each other, and their

choice is by turns dangerous and exciting, hidden and open…” As far as awards go, not only

was the Best Actress (traditionally only awarded to one actress) awarded to two different

actresses, but the narrative of the films that each starred in shared a highly similar theme:

Females on a journey, composed of multiple small battles, who eventually overcome the

main male figures in their respective lives, in order to win the war.

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In addition to the actress awards, many films that fell into this category (including

Valley of Love) were competition official films. This leaves room for commentary and

discussion surrounding the mode of female empowerment that is seen as being the most

acceptable in Official Competition films. Essentially, from what has been mentioned

already and what will be showcased to come, it seems as if the only sort of empowerment

entrusted to females in the realm of Competition Official films requires a long, arduous, and

often painful journey that they just barely survive. The only way in which the females

allowed to rise up to the top at the conclusion of the film is if this crucial expedition is

completed. Along this same vein, it is important to recognize that, despite pointedly

empowering several leading females, there are still restrictions in place. Since the scripts

have been written in ways that do not allow the female leads to find empowerment in

varying modes (such as after acts of violence, breaking out of the power position in which

they were initially placed, etc.), the females are all still trapped in the anti-liberation system

that cinema (at least in the Official Competition realm) has cast them.

Placement in Power Positions

Unlike the abovementioned films, some scripts were indeed written to cast females

in a position of power right from the start, rather than constructing a script that placed the

power in their hands at the very end of the film. These films empowered women right from

the beginning, thus the scripts were built around their positions of power and reflected

societal reactions to females who were in such positions. Once placed in these power

stances, the female leads were often led to self-sacrifice for others, adding important

responsibilities to the positions of power with which they were entrusted.

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One such example of this occurs in the Un Certain Regard film Je suis un soldat,

directed by Laurent Larivière. This film, with a narrative centered on the inner workings of

a dog-trafficking trade, places a young woman in a powerful position in what is a primarily

male-dominated industry. As noted by the Hollywood Reporter, “Sandrine goes to work for

her Uncle Henri at his kennel… a hub for dog trafficking…She starts out hosing down poop-

covered crates, but in no time she’s wheeling and dealing — or, in this case, picking out

puppies, obtaining forged vaccination papers…and pocketing thick wads of cash” (Frosch).

As noted, she begins to become more and more involved with the trade, eventually going to

dog drop-offs to pay for and make pick-ups for her uncle. Then, following a pick up that led

to a close call with the law, in which many on the scene were arrested, she tries to express

her misgivings to her uncle, who threatens her. Due to her past, her job situation, and the

fact that she no longer has an apartment, she is unable to escape the trap in which he has

ensnared her. Due to his power over her, despite her position in the industry, it appears as

if he has the upper hand and that she will be unable to persevere through the situation that

she was written into.

Despite this situation, she devises a plan that will at first cause her great harm, but

which she hopes will ultimately help her to escape the industry and to expose her uncle’s

business without directly communicating the unlawful happenings to the proper

authorities. This scene was phenomenally thought out and shot, and was a powerful,

provocative, and passionate plea from the main character that highlights just how vital it

was for her to escape the industry in which she had fallen victim. The camera shoots her

from behind at a medium long shot, as she slams chains and other loud materials against

the metal cages that house the dogs. After enraging a dog within, she unlatches the lock,

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leaving the kennel door in a closed position. Then, Sandrine bravely turns her back on the

dog, finally facing the camera head-on, and walks towards the camera. When she is far

enough away to appear as if the attack was no fault of her own, the dog realizes the door is

open and flies out of the kennel to attack her. This gripping point in the film draws the

audience straight into her self-sacrificing scheme, as we vicariously experience her pain

and suffering as the dog tears at the largest chunks of her skin that he can gather in his

jowls. The camera only heightens the audience’s ability to experience her pain, as it moves

to a close-up to capture, with painful intensity, the severity of her situation.

In this film, the main female character is placed in a power position from the start,

self-sacrifices to prove her worthiness of holding such power, and ultimately ends up in a

power position by not only escaping her uncle and his business, but also by exposing it

without revealing her own involvement. Despite having been placed in a power position

from the start, Sandrine still had to sink down to a low point to prove that she deserved to

have such power. Due to the male doubt that surrounded her, she used her intellect to

devise a plan that would ultimately free her of not only her uncle and the legal dangers

caused by his presence in her life, but to cleanse her from her previous wrongdoings and

mistakes as well. However, despite its unique narrative and unusual conclusion, Je suis un

soldat was not the recipient of any awards in Cannes.

Similarly, Sicario, directed by Denis Villeneuve, situated the female lead Kate Macy,

acted by Emily Blunt, in the same sort of undeserved position of power. Moreover, this film

failed to become the recipient of any awards at Cannes as well. Not only did it propel

Blunt’s character into an early power position, but she was also later made to prove herself

in life-or-death situations that she did not initially opt to take part in. Despite this, she was

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given the job to travel across the border to Mexico to take part in a high-profile FBI case

because she was said to have shown “promise”. At this point, she was still new to the force,

and had shown no more promise than the next guy (literally). In fact, she almost died at

several points in the film, and had to be valiantly saved by one male or another in the

primarily man-dominated industry in which she was placed, just as Sandrine had been in Je

suis un soldat. Despite this, she was still launched into a position of power for which she

had to retrospectively pay, and the film garnered no particular recognition for tackling

issues of typically male-dominated industries.

Having addressed these films, it seems as if those that literally grappled with the

female character were less likely to receive renown. In fact, it seems as if the camera is

opposed to approaching the lead female in many of the Competition Official films, whereas

it does not hesitate to infringe on the space of the lead females of the films in other

categories. This comes to light when considering that the films that unfolded to reveal

prevailing females at their finish were the award winners. On the other hand, the truthful

films that provided honest commentary and shots on social matters and issues seemed to

be placed on the backburner. This becomes even more apparent in the following section, in

which the fantastic films discussed received even less significant recognition.

Recovery and Rebound After Sexual Violation

Contrary to the films discussed thus far, others focused on occurrences of sexual

violation. In fact, these instances commonly became a main plot point, driving the

remainder of the narrative. Despite their power and brutal honesty, such points existed

almost solely in non-competition films. The prevalence of such violent acts, paired with the

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uplifting outcomes of many of the films, reveals a theme of female liberation that was

achieved after the occurrence of the horrible events that typically perpetuated the

narratives.

A film that made this point abundantly clear was one market film, called I am

Nojoom, Age 10 and Divorced, directed by Khadija al-Salami. This brilliantly crafted plea for

all young girls forced into womanhood too soon, displayed naked truths and embodied the

horrifying journey that one ten-year-old was forced to make in order to become liberated

from her country’s brutal system. In order to heighten the blatant problems with early

marriages, “the director often juxtaposes the delights of childhood against the brutality of

Yemeni traditions. The 10-year-old central character trades her engagement ring for a doll

– which she clutches during the wedding ceremonies” (Boitiaux). This is key to a greater

understanding that is covertly passed from the director to the audience in revealing her

actions.

The plot, in sum, is composed of a young girl’s story; a ten-year-old girl from Yemen

is married off to a thirty-year-old man in order for her family to receive a small dowry and

have one less mouth to feed at home. On her wedding night, Nojoom’s husband is

determined to consummate their marriage, and she is raped despite her attempts to escape

his grasp. She is repeatedly physically, sexually, and emotionally abused, and eventually

her husband brings her back to her family in an attempt to have them convince her that she

is not upholding her duties as a woman. Despite her family’s love for her, they tell her that

she is a married woman who is responsible for taking care of her husband—in all things,

from those that are mundane to those that are highly sexual. She manages to escape briefly

and flags down a taxi that transports her to a local courthouse. Once inside, she waits

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patiently before demanding a divorce from the local judge. Unfortunately, by the time she

is able to state her purpose for being there, the courthouse is closed for the day. Despite

the fact that he is unable to help her at that point in the day, he takes her back to his house

and provides her with a safe place to stay as he tackles her divorce case. She eventually

wins, and becomes a liberated girl. In fact, she becomes the youngest to have ever been

successfully divorced in Yemen.

Despite a similar theme of female empowerment, the shooting of the rape that takes

place in this film is unlike the other female emancipation films, in that the camera was

allowed not just in the room with them while the sexual infraction occurred, but was in fact

in the bed with them while documenting the appalling occurrence. The camera did not shy

away from the scene, but captured in startling detail Nojoom’s struggle, fear, and pain as

she was held down, both literally and figuratively, and forced into, despite her incessant

fighting. Moreover, in addition to the raw power of the scene, Nojoom sobbed silently

following the rape while clutching the doll that she had gotten in exchange for her

engagement ring. This served to assert even more vehemently the problems that exist due

to forced childhood marriage in Yemen. Her age paired with something as innocent-

seeming as a doll compels the audience to understand her pain on even a more personal

level: How many audience members had a doll, stuffed animal, or blanket that was

important to them in their childhood? This moving scene of exposure and pain resonated

with the viewer in a way that few other films could manage.

That being mentioned, it is important to look at the position of this film as compared

to those mentioned beforehand in the realm of female empowerment. The previously

mentioned films were all either Competition Official or Un Certain Regard, and none of

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them dared to tackle a subject like rape in such a straightforward manner. Moreover, the

competition films not only refused to capture such raw and truthful occurrences, but the

films that won awards also happened to be the films that revealed the fewest actual

occurrences of violence, either sexual or otherwise. These films focused on the more

mundane arguments about chores and cliché filmic problems such as incompatibility or

sexual orientation discovery.

Nojoom realistically and overpoweringly captured a real-life problem that is rarely

addressed in international cinema. Moreover, it is a social issues film with a strong stance

and a willingness to be assertive that allowed for it to take a realistic standpoint to

truthfully portray the painful violence, rape, and expectations that so many young girls are

forced to uphold. Despite this, Nojoom was able to free herself in the end and, despite all

her hardships at only age ten, she was successfully divorced and liberated following her

difficult, though fleeting forced-marriage.

Similarly to Nojoom in the cryptic and difficult rape situations, was a film called

Paulina, directed by Santiago Mitre. Referred to as a, “psychologically nuanced exploration

of political idealism” about a woman named, “Paulina [who] is attacked and raped by a

gang of local boys” (Roddick), Paulina is an intuitively captured experience that was

constructed in order to deny the viewer a strong emotional attachment, by piecing together

the incident through the eyes of many outsiders, and rarely in Paulina’s own voice. Instead,

the occurrence was documented through those who were a part of the aftermath: Her

father, the police, her doctors, her counselors, the rapist, etc. In this way, Paulina worked

to tackle the subject of rape culture, but strove to address it with less of an emotional

appeal.

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As a market film, Nojoom received no renown and press was not easy to come by,

despite its phenomenal construction. Moreover, though Paulina was awarded the Grand

Prix Nespresso winner for Critics’ Week, it was only up against six other films, none of

which could compare to the power and intellect that became inherent in Paulina.

Additionally, it is also interesting to notice that Paulina was not selected as a competition

film, and was yet another film that dared to tackle a topic as dark and overwhelming as

rape. This again points to the notion that the films that dared to explore the realm of

physical trespassing more intimately were less likely to be included in the Official

Competition or the more competitive categories of the festival.

At the end of the day, it is highly important to realize that themes are central to not

only the festival as a whole, but also to each individual portion of the festival. For example,

even though an overarching theme may become apparent, such as female empowerment

generally, which seemed to have a presence across most every category, the divide that

occurs between competition categories must also be considered. For example, consider

that the Official Competition films tended to focus more on women winding up in power

positions versus the Non-Competition films that tended to focus more on physical violence

and its aftermath.

Therefore, not only are themes important as a whole, but their breakdowns and

varying relevance in differing categories are important as well. These smaller subsets of a

main theme provide crucial information as to how the market perpetuates notions and

expresses ideas in different ways when incorporated into films that fall into different

categories. Consider, for example, the central theme of female empowerment that has been

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mentioned in all of the above films. Despite this, there is a clear division between the sorts

of empowerment that exist primarily in Competition films, like Mon Roi, Un Certain Regard

and other renowned categories, such as Je suis un soldat, and market films, such as I am

Nojoom, Age 10 and Divorced. These are the examples that have stood out the most in

highlighting the various approaches to filmic female liberation and exploring the depictions

of how power is earned in different cinematic brackets.

All in all it is highly notable that the theme of female empowerment was laced into

films of many different categories, despite the fact that it did so in varying forms. This

varying representation of female liberation shows that there is a centralized focus on the

empowerment of females in cinema, despite the fact that the modes of granting such

liberation and creating such power positions varies from film to film and, more drastically,

from category to category. Due to the fact that female liberation has been and still is a hot

topic internationally, it is apparent that a theme such as this may emerge in a multitude of

films and forms when being presented on an international forum.

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Works Cited

Boitiaux, Charlotte. "'I Am Nojoom, Age 10 and Divorced' Tackles Tradition." France 24.

N.p., 10 June 2015. Web. 14 June 2015.

Dargis, Manohla. "Todd Haynes’s Film ‘Carol’ Draws Attention at Cannes." The New York

Times. The New York Times Company, 24 May 2015. Web. 14 June 2015.

Debruge, Peter. "Cannes Film Review: 'Mon Roi'" Variety. Variety Media, 17 May 2015. Web.

9 June 2015.

Frosch, Jon. "'I Am a Soldier' ('Je Suis Un Soldat'): Cannes Review." The Hollywood Reporter.

N.p., 20 May 2015. Web. 12 June 2015.

Roddick, Chloe. "Paulina – First Look | Sight & Sound." British Film Institute. N.p., 1 June

2015. Web. 14 June 2015.