Female Film Critics 24/375
Dame Kristin Scott Thomas’ directorial debut, My Mother’s Wedding, will open in theaters August 8, almost two years after it had its world premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival.
Inspired by her own family history, Scott Thomas co-wrote the film with her husband, John Micklethwait. She also co-stars.
Dame Kristin Scott Thomas makes her feature directorial debut with My Mother’s Wedding (formerly titled North Star), a family tale about love and loss with a great cast. A lesser cast and better writing would have improved matters, but never mind. The plot revolves around the reunion of three sisters who are gathering at the family home for their mother’s third marriage. Mom (Scott Thomas) has been twice married and twice widowed, a detail from Scott Thomas’ own life. As a child, the filmmaker lost her father and her stepfather — both armed forces pilots — within six years.
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Dame Kristin Scott Thomas makes her feature directorial debut with North Star, a family tale about love and loss with a great cast. A lesser cast and better writing would have improved matters, but never mind. The plot revolves around the reunion of three sisters who are gathering at the family home for their mother’s third marriage. Mom (Scott Thomas) has been twice married and twice widowed, a detail from Scott Thomas’ own life. As a child, the filmmaker lost her father and her stepfather — both armed forces pilots — within six years.
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The 48th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival is once again ready to kick off in Toronto. While this year may not have the star power of previous years due to the ongoing SAG and WGA strikes, there are still plenty of films to see – especially ones with women filmmakers at the helm. While not reaching gender parity in their programming this year, TIFF is still showcasing films by women from around the world. Both well-established directors and first-time directors helm everything from star-studded ensembles, documentaries, indie dramas, comedies, and more. With more than 70 films, series, and shorts directed by women, there are many opportunities to take in female-helmed films this festival, which runs September 7 through 17th. See the full list of feature-length films and series directed or co-directed by women.
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Two once-inseparable childhood friends reconnect on a vacation to Greece’s Cyclades islands in the French comedy Two Tickets to Greece, a tart yet touching look at how friendships nurture us, even when one thought they’d died on the vine. As teens, Blandine and Magalie listened to the soundtrack to the 1988 film The Big Blue and talked about visiting Amorgos, where the diving movie was filmed. Yet after a falling out, they haven’t spoken for about thirty years.
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Numerous films, not least the James Bond collection, and television programs have championed the sterling reputation of Britain’s MI5 agents. And so it seems inevitable and quite right that, given current attitudes, the incomparable espionage enterprise gets revisited in Slow Horses through a stunningly incompetent group of agents whose punishment involves reassignment to Slough House, a shabby site away from the true professionals.
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Too bad this revised adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s novel is so inferior to Alfred Hitchock’s Oscar-winning 1940 version (the only Hitchcock movie ever to win Best Picture), starring Joan Fontaine, Laurence Olivier and Judith Anderson. On the plus side, it’s beautifully photographed by Laurie Rose, who makes the most of the spectacular seaside scenery, stylish period costumes, and historic Hatfield House, former home to Queen Elizabeth I – the same mansion that director Yorgos Lanthimos featured in The Favorite.
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Director Ben Wheatley’s new incarnation of Rebecca is a valiant reinterpretation that is truer to Daphne Du Maurier’s book than it is to the Hitchcock film. While some might argue that a new version of the story is unnecessary, it fills the holes in our imagination as to how the tale plays out, etching into our minds how the flawed romantic characters get out of a jam.
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It took three scriptwriters — Jane Goldman, Joe Shrapnel, and Anna Waterhouse — to render Du Maurier’s gothic plot into cinematic Hamburger Helper. Here’s how: They retained the 1935 setting. They held the Depression but retained one depressed widower, a Mr. de Winter (note symbolic name á la Jung). He married a plain Jane (not her name — she’s too low-class for one).
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Military Wives is cathartic. If nothing else, it’s a good, free cry, but it’s more than that, partially because Military Wives balances pathos with humor.
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