Following Patricia Arquette's impassioned speech at the Oscars, the issue of equal rights for women, especially in the workplace where there is still a long way to go, has come to the fore again. The film industry itself has little to be proud of: only 11% of major films feature as many women as men, and less than a third of speaking characters are female. Only a sixth of all jobs in the industry belong to women and women make up only 9% of directors. This International Women's Day we look at ten films that have something to say about women in the workplace.
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| Potiche |
You might not expect a film about female achievement to open with a women running joyfully through the woods to a glade where cute animals come to greet her, but Potiche is a film that loves to play with audience expectations. Catherine Deneuve is the sunny housewife forced to confront a different side of life when her husband's ill health leaves her in charge of his umbrella factory. But this is more than just a simple tale of a woman who discovers she loves working and resists giving it up, more than a story of business success against the odds. Just when you think it's going to settle into comfortable romance, the heroine discovers she has bigger ambitions, and all of France seems to be changing around her.
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| Women's Day |
Most people don't have it so easy when trying to find and hols down a job. In this Polish film, Maria Sadowska plays a woman desperate to keep her job in a supermarket so she can support her daughter. A brief romance with the boss suggests things are looking up, but then she's told that times are tough and ordered to sack one of her colleagues - "Either the old one or the pregnant one." Only after she's done the deed does she find she's reached the limit of what she can tolerate and, working hard to win back the trust of the other women, decide to fight back. It may focus on women but the film will resnate for anyone who knows what it's like to be at the bottom of the heap.
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| Working Girl |
A much smarter (and darker) film than it has historically been given credit for, this is the story of a young woman who fears a lifetime stuck in the thankless role of personal assistant. Her admiration for her female boss (Sigourney Weaver) is crushed when the boss steals her idea, so she takes advantage of the boss' absence on a business trip to set up a deal of her own. Director Mike Nichols has some sharp points to make about women in corporate spaces being set against each other, needing to be ruthless to make it, and ultimately still depending on men's approval. The much derided power suits and high heels are as necessary to these women's success as anything they know about finance.
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| Copycat |
Copycat
Although there are an increasing number of strong female cops in films - from Charlize Theron in the Valley Of Elah to Doona Bae in A Girl At My Door - they still tend either to fill supporting roles or to be treated as suspicious rarities by the men around them. Copycat is unusual in pairing Holly Hunter's determined police officer with Sigourney Weaver's traumatised by tough academic as they hunt for a serial killer. Their interaction dominates the film and shows them first and foremost as professionals doing difficult jobs, whilst, with the exception of the killer (whose repertoire is somewhat limited), men are firmly limited to supporting roles, their presence mainly about fleshing out the female characters' lives.
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| Pale Moon |
Of course, not every woman in the workplace is an honest one, and perhaps we shouldn't expect her to be - though this film's heroine arguably sees life 9and capitalism) in more honest terms than most of those around her. Played by Rie Miyazawa, she's a bank clerk who almost accidentally discovers how easy it is to 'borrow' money from the vaults and start to live life on her own terms, with glamorous clothes and gourmet food and a younger lover she keeps in an apartment by the sea. But much more than just a tale of forbidden pleasures, this is an assault on the polite expectations of Japanese society, as the heroine's self realisation leads her to uncover hypocrisy everywhere. Also important is her relationship with a female superior whose presence may ultimately lead the viewer to question everything.
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| Nina's Heavenly Delights |
Nina (Shelley Conn) left home to escape an arranged marriage. Now that her father has died, she's back to try and save his restaurant business and win a major curry competition. Essentially a simple tale about love of one's job and the joy of hard work when there's a clear goal in sight, the film takes on an extra dimension when Nina falls for one of her co-workers, further challenging assumptions about the way she ought to conduct her life. Focusing only in part on the assertion of the right to work, this is a film that goes some way to explaining why, beyond concern with mere subsistence, it's worth it.
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| Made In Dagenham |
Based on a true story, this film focuses on an incident in 1968 when nearly 200 women stood up against a decision to classify them as unskilled and reduce their pay - a pivotal action in what would become a nationwide campaign for equal remuneration. Sally Hawkins and Miranda Richardson lead a strong female cast with Bob Hoskins as the token man, a union rep inspired by his mum. There's an old fashioned cosiness about the film that may not inspire revolutionary fervour but, importantly, situates equal pay as something we should all be in a position to take for granted.
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| Zero Focus |
Set in 1950s Japan, this film explores the turbulent landscape of a country where centuries-old tradition is falling away and, amongst other changes, women are starting to take on active roles in society. Hizuru Takachiho is the power behind the throne in her husband's business and a political visionary, devoted to advancing women in politics, but to achieve this requires a certain ruthlessness. Yoshiko Kuga, meanwhile, plays a young woman who has never expected to wield power but who must take it, one way or another, if she is to discover the fate of her missing husband. Through the metaphor of her search, the film examines the development of female self-confidence, watching her push forward anyway despite feeling out of her depth.
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| Marion Cotillard - "bravura and introspective performance." |
With small amounts of power come great responsibilities. Marion Cotillard here plays a woman living in a supposedly equal country, with the right to work on equal terms with men, but actually holding onto her job proves more difficult; and with her husband earning very little, the financial survival of their family depends on her. She, in turn, depends on her co-workers, with only two days and one night in which to persuade them to take a pay cut rather than see her sacked. She has no choice but to beg them to take pity on her, and the courage required to do this is considerable, but as the film develops we see something in her desperation turn to anger and the sense that she is entitled to more than this - situating the struggle for equality for women within the wider framework of a struggle for equality for all.
