Gloria Steinem is a lot more interesting than "The Glorias" would have us believe
Thursday, January 30, 2020 at 4:51PM Ren Jender reporting from Sundance
Director Julie Taymor's The Glorias adapted (by Taymor and Sarah Ruhl) from Gloria Steinem's 2015 book "My Life on the Road" premiered this past Sunday at Sundance to long applause and a talk afterward between Steinem and Taymor. But those who have read Steinem's books and paid more than cursory attention to her feminist activism will be disappointed in how clunky and oversimplified the script is. One groan-worthy device has Gloria, at various ages, (the majority of the time she’s played either by either by a stiff Alicia Vikander or a warmer, but still anodyne, Julianne Moore) sitting in a bus looking out the window and conversing with her previous selves...
The Glorias also discounts Steinem's own observations. Steinem has written about the fear of public speaking that the film touches on but doesn't mention what Steinem has noted: in old clips of her talking to the press, she wasn't the shaky-voiced wreck she had imagined herself to be but a relatively composed, articulate presence, an echo of those of us who upon seeing old photos of ourselves can't believe how good we looked-- and how terrible we thought we looked at the time.
The film curiously omits Shirley Chisholm who ran for president (and whom Steinem supported) in 1972. But, at various stages of her life, Gloria is in the company of and working with a single woman of color (including Janelle Monáe as Dorothy Pitman Hughes and Lorraine Toussaint as Flo Kennedy) but their very brief time onscreen gives short shrift to the accomplishments and philosophies of these women. Touissant looks great in Flo's western wear (most of the costumes, by Sandy Powell, are less fun, recreating the drab clothing of the early 70s a little too well), but she doesn't get lines nearly as meaty as one from Kennedy's autobiography
"...marriage is a crock. Why should you lock yourself in the bathroom just because you have to go three times a day?"
Director Julie Taymor and Gloria Steinem
In fact the feminists in this film never says anything that could be considered even mildly controversial for present-day audiences (which was certainly not the case for actual second-wave feminists or for Steinem herself, even today) so their accomplishments seem like foregone conclusions instead of hard-won, grueling slogs the battles for Civil Rights were shown to be in Ava DuVernay's Selma.
What this film does have in common with DuVernay's masterpiece is unfortunate: both barely acknowledge the queer people who helped make these movements possible. The Glorias has a blink-and-you-miss-it scene where queer rights are brought on board as part of feminism's goals, but the film's Gloria doesn't even seem to know any queer women, in New York, in the women's movement, in the 1970s!
Reader Comments (19)
Where is Helen Reddy?
What about Bette Midler?
Selma is a masterpiece? Ok
DuVernay’s masterpiece? Um...what?
If Little Women is a masterpiece, then Selma is a masterpiece too. It's the Twitter Hyperbole.
Finally, a new film by Julie Taymor coming.
I also can't get over Selma and masterpiece in the same sentence. I'm bummed to read this review, this movie looked fun and interesting...
Where did this issue with Selma come from? This seems new and problematic for other reasons.
@brookesboy Unjoo Moon's I Am Woman is quite a decent account of Helen Reddy, even if it is a safe and predictable biopic with familiar beats. It features a fine performance from Tilda Cobham-Hervey as Helen, and the film hits a high right towards the end when the audience realizes alongside Helen just how iconic she and her song are to an entire generation and continues to remain so.
So Selma is now a masterpiece?
Yes, Selma IS a masterpiece.
I’d personally call Middle of Nowhere DuVernay’s masterpiece, but I certainly don’t take offense to someone saying that about Selma, a film which deserved more accolades than a lot of the films released in the same year.
But anyway, it sounds like The Glorias plays it a bit too safe, which is a surprise with someone like Taymor at the helm. It has a great cast, though!
Julie Taymor, almost always, seems to disappoint.
Why would anyone compare Selma and Little Women? Two such different films.
I didn't think I'd see a Gloria Steinem wig that made Rose Byrne's look natural!
Hi Abzee--I have been waiting for this movie to come to Chicago! I am a huge Helen fan, ever since I was a kid, and have been quite nervous about how she is being portrayed. I've heard really good things about the film. It's playing at the Athena Film Festival in NY late next month. Thank you for this update--it makes me even more excited for the movie!
How any film could make Gloria Steinem seem slightly dull is baffling. She was and is one of the most compelling human beings I've encountered. I have seen her at a reading on a book tour, and on TV, in various documentaries, etc. To have such a vibrant subject and interesting life story, and come up with a mediocre film is poor work indeed.
Oh, Julianne! So many of her recent projects have looked good on paper and haven't quite worked out. This sounded like it could have been bold and interesting--I'm sorry to read that it plays it so safe. I hope The Woman in the Window and Mothertrucker turn out well.
This review is a bit unfair. The film is a lot more ambitious than Ren suggests.
The "groan-worthy device" on the bus to which the review refers is actually meaningful. They are all headed toward an unknown destination, and along the way, there’s an extended internal monologue in which the younger Gloria commiserates to the older Gloria about not standing up for herself against misogynistic men. “You will,” assures the older Gloria.
When we finally learn where the bus is headed, a magical thing happens that I won't spoil, but it's brilliant and beautiful and reminded me of the end of BlackKklansman.
If you want a more in-depth portrait of a particular time, watch Mrs. America. The Glorias is about what makes someone an activist.