11.13.2014

Besson's Leading Ladies

After watching the film The Messenger, I was intrigued by the director Luc Besson, and began researching his other works. To begin, Besson himself is French, and has won numerous awards for his filmmaking and directing abilities. Besson’s nationality lends some insight into his interests in Joan, although several of his works feature strong female leads, both historical and fictional. Aside from The Messenger, Besson also directed the film The Lady, based on the life of Aung San Suu Kyi, a Burmese politician and leader. After watching the trailer for The Lady, I saw several parallels to that of Besson’s The Messenger. First, both Joan and Aung are shown to have witnessed a violent death of a loved one, which Besson interprets as motivation for the adult lives both women would later lead. Another interesting connection between the two films is Besson’s portrayal of both France and Burma being in times of crisis. The subsequent rise of both Joan and Aung is further elevated due to the dire situation in both countries.

                                          Movie poster from Besson's film The Lady (2011)

Besson also directed the recent film Lucy, a fictional film centered on one woman who becomes able to utilize one hundred percent of her brain (most humans use less than twenty percent scientists surmise). While Lucy is perhaps an odd comparison to Joan and The Messenger, it features yet another central, strong female character. I saw the film Lucy this summer, and believe that regardless of its highly fictional content, Besson borrowed several of the themes from The Messenger. Lucy, like Joan, is also from modest beginnings, who becomes involved in circumstances beyond her control. As the film progresses, she supersedes gender stereotypes as she becomes a lethal fighter, similar to Besson’s portrayal of Joan (although the extend of Joan being shown as a warrior in The Messenger is debatable).

                                               Movie poster from Besson's film Lucy (2104)


Overall Besson has directed numerous works, many of which do not focus on strong central leads (like the Taken movies for example). However, there remain interesting parallels between The Messenger, The Lady, and Lucy that become apparent when critically viewing the films. If anyone has seen either The Lady or Lucy I urge you to comment below your thoughts on the effectiveness of comparing either film to The Messenger!

Below are two links to view both trailers for The Lady and Lucy 


1 comment:

  1. Had not realized that he did Lucy: thanks. Check out this review to see the similarity between the Messenger and Lucy (symbolism and crazed woman): http://www.tampabay.com/things-to-do/movies/review-lucy-is-way-too-crazy/2189835

    It's great that he has so many female leads (that seems to be his speciality). But it's interesting that so many of them tote/use weapons or are involved in war. On the one hand, it might be said that he does not conform to basic stereotypes of meek women, so good. On the other hand, if he continually chooses to make women gun-lovers but also makes them verge on the side of the insane, then it's not very good for the gender business! As a small aside, the word hysteria is Greek for uterus, so being hysterical, a shouter, a wild woman, is a stereotype that's been around for at least 2500 years. Another thing to consider is why we should even care about this (the movies are for entertainment not history line . . .). But history is about empathy and humanity, human experiences, how people lived and loved. So it's important to put women fairly into history. We might ask ourselves how Joan would rewrite her story? (something to consider when evaluating the Messenger).

    The Bechdel test asks us to look for women in film and to see how many are in the film. Do they appear with primarily men, or women too? If they appear with women, how many? If they talk to other women, what do they talk about (men, or other stuff). Then she grades the film. How would Besson score?

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