Confession: I’m a big Julia Hart fan. Her melancholic but supremely charming dramedy Miss Stevens was the kind of assured debut that made you take notice, and the quick announcement that her next project would be an indie superhero film starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw cemented my excitement. Here was a woman seemingly brimming with ideas, not constrained by genre, wheeling around and doing what she wanted in an industry that scoffs at the notion.
All of that’s to say I was excited and not at all surprised to hear that her fourth feature in four years would be a period crime-drama because that’s obviously how you follow up a dramedy, a superhero movie, and a coming-of-age romance for Disney+. You gather some flashy duds, a gun, and a baby, and take on an iconic moment in film history. Gutsy.
The downside to all this rushing about is that Hart’s films can feel a bit, well, rushed. Everything post-Miss Stevens could probably use another pass or two at the script, which she always co-writes with her husband and ‘guy who held up the Moonlight card at the Oscars’ Jordan Horowitz. I’m Your Woman is no exception, but those quick turnarounds also make what she’s able to churn out all the more impressive, in this case, a deliberate twist on the ‘70s crime thriller: one that’s actually about a woman.
Feminine Twist
To say that ‘70s crime thrillers explore very masculine territory is no grand statement. The policemen, gangsters, private investigators, and journalists that these films revolved around were almost exclusively men, as were the worlds they moved in. The shifting and resettling of power after the turbulent 1960s means they were largely questioning their place, the methodical and usually understated drama of these movies reflecting the way some tried to suppress the cultural upheaval that was still churning.
But women were thrown off by these changes as well, and here Hart runs the pressures of womanhood through the same grinder. Her protagonist is not the man mucking everything up but the woman he leaves behind, one who struggles to make breakfast and is alarmed when her husband brings her a baby after they had difficulty conceiving. Life at home was seemingly a struggle that would’ve caught up to her anyway, the sudden adventure of a knock at the door and a midnight flight as much a reprieve as an upheaval.
Rachel Brosnahan as Jean, the woman fleeing the repercussions of her husband, is at once expertly prepared for the material and an inspired casting choice. Known primarily for playing the ‘50s housewife turned stand-up comic in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, she’s seasoned in the themes but not the genre. She pulls off the eventual chases and gunfights admirably, but it’s in the meting out of Jean’s breakdown and rebuilding that she excels. A woman on a journey is very much what Jean is, and Brosnahan captures every step.
All of which would’ve made for a fine rewrite of the genre, but Hart again shows that she’s a bit more nuanced than the average filmmaker. Most, when thinking of this character’s endpoint, would imagine the inevitable jump into the fray as the high point, the taking on of traditionally masculine roles as the ultimate feminist narrative. That, though, is a mistake of being continuously fed stories by, for, and about men. What Hart lands on is a mix, not a shedding of traditionally female roles but an incorporation of male ones next to the female. It’s true feminism, the idea that a woman will raise her child, battle their enemies, and be happy doing it all, even if she’s still not great at cooking an egg.
And as if to add icing to the cake, Hart doesn’t relegate this vision of security to her heroine. Her two couriers through this new world, Cal and Teri (Arinzé Kene and Marsha Stephanie Blake, both excellent), have seemingly already reached this balanced point, the nods to their security coming through their actions as well as when they are present in the narrative.
It’s a small change, one you perhaps won’t notice unless you’re already annoyed with the reductive gender stereotyping in most of our narratives, but it’s the kind of nuance I’ve come to expect and be elated by in Hart’s stories.
Capturing a Genre
Of course, to subvert a genre you first have to master it, and I’m Your Woman knows the beats it needs to hit. Immersed not just in the look and feel of the ‘70s but in the particulars of the era’s crime thrillers, the film is as much a feast of aesthetics as it is of themes.
I mean, look at those costumes. From turtlenecks to bold patterns to sparkling jumpsuits, the outfits instantly place the movie without overdoing it. And when they’re paired with long shots sliding from right to left, with characters and action coming in and out of frame along with all sorts of other ‘70s cinema throwbacks, you can feel yourself slide back in time.
But to truly capture the genre you need to replicate its pace, the methodical way these films build tension before the explosions of violence. Hart definitely gets the need to let things breathe, but this is where the film could’ve used a few more revisions to achieve true greatness. The first hour, which is largely made up of Jean trying to get her feet under her, is a bit too spread out. A little tightening, maybe the removal of one of the roadblocks along the way, would rid the film of the lethargy that hits about midway through and stays until Jean gets into the action.
Even with this stumble, though, Hart shows that she understands the genre and replicates it well enough to get the subversion across.
Conclusion
In its evocation and inversion of ‘70s crime thrillers, I’m Your Woman shows that there’s still plenty to explore within the well-worn genre. Strong performances carry the film through its minor sags, and it provides yet another twist in the career of co-writer and director Julia Hart, who from here can go just about anywhere and do just about anything.
Did you think I’m Your Woman nailed the ’70s aesthetic? What are some of your favorite ’70s or ’70s-inspired crime thrillers? Let us know in the comments!
I’m Your Woman is now streaming on Amazon Prime.
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