A film with impact

Press, 28 November 1977, Page 6

A film with impact

By FELICITY PRICE i The final impact of the; women's film, “I Want to be; Joan,” is tremendous, but the film itself, which was pre-! viewed at the James Hav) Theatre on Saturday evening,] is technically and artistically, flawed. Stephanie Robinson, the i producer, based the film on! interviews with six women, all wives and mothers, and their marriage experiences. Various interludes have 1 been edited into the dialogue: — photographs of modem j paintings depicting women • — but the use of static forms

I to illustrate a point is artis-: tically weak when a moving image would do much better. ) Had Stephanie Robinson I used a few frames illustrat- ' ing the background of the ■lwomen interviewed — their; , I children, their homes, their; i lifestyle, for example — she: ' would have backed up her ] : ] theme much more success- • II fully. The paintings meant little I; to the audience, whereas the ’ women who were being inter-; • Iviewed were vibrant and vital; 11 personalities, far more cap-1 i; able of livening up the movie ' :: than contrived art. In fact, Joan herself could

; have carried the movie alone, ; Had she been the only , woman interviewed, and her i comments interpolated with • stimulating, action photo- : graphy, the film would have •Ibeen stunning. •i One does not need six ■ women discussing individ- ■ > uality and independence to ■ 'drive home the message of I the need for identity. It clutilters up the message when a ■ subject as successful as Joan ■ I is already available. II However, “I Want to be ■ Joan” makes some excellent ! points and, unlike most documentaries about women, does 1I not hammer the message.