Post 5- Ashley Roth

Ashley Roth

Professor Cacoilo

Media 384

Post 5

                                                Anne Fontaine: Film Maker/ Screen Writer

Anne Fontaine is truly an inspiration for women to know that they can triumph over any obstacle without the help of men. 

http://forward.com/the-assimilator/343510/interview-with-anne-fontaine-director-of-the-innocents/

I don’t remember seeing any movie that had at least two women in a conversation between each other and not speaking about a man or men.  The Bechdel Test allows everyone the opportunity to learn if a film passes this basic requirement.  The Bechdel Test has three basic requirements which are: a. Including at least two women, b. having at least one conversation with each other and the topic is not about a man or men. I started to research about films that would meet this requirement and I was curious to see if the film director/screenwriter would also be a woman. My research led me to learn about Anne Fontaine whose occupation was in the cinema as a comedienne.  Anne Fontaine is a French director who directed the films “Coco Before Chanel’, “Gemma Bovary” and “The Innocents”. Her films are based on her Feminist viewpoints and these movies pass The Bechdel Test with flying colors.  Fontaine was uncomfortable in cinema since “She felt trapped by its gaze”.  She realized that she had an interest in the “actors, their game, their text, their role” and she wanted to change the dynamics of films”. She wrote and directed her first film, “Les Histoires de’amour Finissent Mal En General”.  What I found amazing about her was that she did not have a degree in film making or any technical experience.  She proves that “technique or references were of little importance” when directing a film.  Anne Fontaine is a free thinker, a Feminist, who wanted to make a difference for women in cinema.  She directs films that show women with different issues, obstacles they face in their lives, and she allows the freedom of expression through women’s points of view. Since Fontaine was in cinema, she knew about the Patriarchal, chauvinistic male directors whose goal was to portray women as ‘objects’ for the ‘Male Gaze’.  Male directors were not interested in showing women as being independent, self- reliant or educated.  Anne Fontaine wanted to change the way films depict women.  She was at first fearful to direct and write her first film but she took on the challenge and she was chosen for the Critics’ Week of Cannes in 1993.

Fontaine’s film “The Innocents (Les Innocentes) it is not a typical war story.  It is a true story about nuns who were savagely raped by Soviet soldiers at the end of WWII.  Some of the nuns become pregnant and must come to terms about rape, childbirth, and their faith.  It is a story that was kept secret because of the repercussions they feared by the Patriarchal Church. These nuns feared the Church’s Patriarchal beliefs about religion and judge their value as women where they would be judged harshly, as well as, the entire community.  These nuns were sheltered from the secular world and they feared that the male dominated Church leaders would shut down their convent and they would be ostracized. This film passes the Bechdel Test because there is a female heroine (Mathilde) and the female nuns had to travail as a team against great odds about their religious faith and trusting in someone from the secular world.  They could not confide to the Catholic Church Male leaders. As the movie moves forward, these female nuns start to reveal their bodies to Mathilde because of their pregnancies. They reveal their emotions to Mathilde despite she is an Atheist.  The cast in this film are basically a female cast and there is one man, Samuel, who does not have a major role in the film. Sister Maria “Confesses to Mathilde that she cannot find consolation and tells her how she suffers emotionally by reliving the continuous rape in her mind. This confirms that at least one woman has a conversation with at least one other woman and it is not about men. Mathilde is a female physician who can identify with the women because she, too, is a woman.  Also, Mathilde in one scene is almost raped by different soldiers. The importance of Fontaine’s work is that her film does not portray women as ‘objects’ who depend on men to take care of them.  This film shows how a group of women empower themselves despite prejudicial Church leaders and their chauvinistic ideas about rape. The film is not about women being objectified or judged by the ‘male gaze’. The film conveys a message about women being savagely raped after war.  It conveys the emotional and physical anguish that these women suffered because of being raped and the pregnancy and eventual giving birth. These women struggle and judge themselves because of their devotion and faith in God’s religion.  These women emphasize the trauma that women in our modern society are judged harshly.  The court system is unsympathetic towards women who seek justice against the man or men who rape them. It notes how these women feared retaliation from Male Church leaders, as well as, men and women in the secular community. These fears and concerns still plague women in our modern day society

This is a movie that everyone should see. It is a must see film that portrays Nuns that were raped brutally. The film brings out the power of friendship, faith, abortion, rape and women's rights.   

https://www.amazon.com/Innocents-Lou-Laâge/dp/B01GA4ILCS 

I admire Anne Fontaine because she was not happy in her career as a comedian.  This film allows the audience to experience a woman’s inner emotional and physical struggles when raped by a man or men, the necessity to have freedom to receive a safe, legal abortion, or be given birth control, healthcare and childcare regardless of a woman’s religion, ethnicity, women of color and every woman should not fear retaliation by our judicial system, religious institutions and by society.  Women are not objects to be lusted after in film, literature, music, videos, magazines, newspapers and through the web. Women who bring criminal charges against men who raped them should not be raped again by the Court System. The film shows the courage, tenacity, faith despite all odds, compassion and the power of female friendships. The film gives a voice to be heard and seen by women who were brutally raped.  It brings attention to the fact that when the nuns were raped, these soldiers did not have any respect or compassion about these women.  Rape is an issue that affects every woman, or girl whether they experienced being raped or finding out about a woman or girl who was raped.  Anne Fontaine is a woman who changed her career as a comedienne and took on a career where director/screenwriters are mostly men.  “Fontaine uses a somber, meditative approach to tell a story of survival and compromised faith. She works with a history that’s been well covered in cinema, especially if you include its references to the Holocaust, and avoids familiar by bringing a fresh feminist perspective to a time and place dominated by patriarchy”. Fontaine makes an important point in the film, “No matter what challenges the convent will face---whether they be literal or spiritual-it will be the women and not the men who will find a way to face them”. (link) Anne Fontaine feels that she has more freedom as a woman to direct/screenwriter of films since she lives in Europe.  She believes that there is more gender bias in the United States and noted that director/screenwriters are mostly dominated by men.  She hopes that women will be encouraged to seek a career as a director/screenwriter.

Works Cited:

Holden, Stephen. "Review: In 'The Innocents, 'Not Even Nuns Are Spared War Horrors." The New York Times. The New York Times, 2016. Web. 23 Nov. 2016.

" NZIFF: The Innocents."The Innocents • New Zealand International Film Festival. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Nov. 2016. 

Woodward, TextDaisy. "The True Story Behind Haunting New Film The Innocents." AnOther. N.p, n.d., Web. 23 Nov. 2016.