Transatlantic Cinema Gems

Transatlantic Cinema GemsFrench
Written By Sybilla Hamilton

Feminism(e): The Transnational Symmetry of La Belle Saison and Misbehaviour

Sybilla Hamilton

Column I

As we near the end of 2020, I have found myself reflecting on the social and cultural changes we have experienced this year. Though coverage has largely focused on the pandemic, there has been massive headway made in key social areas. Whilst the anti-racist movement has grown through mass protest connected with Black Lives Matter, other social issues remain unaddressed such as police brutality in Nigeria and the rise of the far right in Europe and North America growing at an alarming rate. Thanks in part to my embarkment into new literary modules in my MML degree, the recurrence of human protest never ceases to amaze me, as well as the relevance it continues to have decade after decade.

One movement in particular struck a chord: the feminist protest movement in the 70s, commonly referred to as the second wave. When Misbehaviour came out on Amazon Prime in lockdown, my two sisters and I pounced on the fresh meat - like everyone, we were close to exhausting our Netflix options and the halt on new productions and releases was hitting home. Misbehaviour had been released the week before lockdown started and so had a sort of virtual small screen release not long after.

The film, directed by Philippa Lowthorpe, follows the Women’s Liberation Movement as they clash with the Miss World Finals that were taking place in London in 1970. Headed by Keira Knightley as Sally, we are taken through the streets of London, into their houses, meetings, lecture halls, and ultimately to the Miss World finals themselves. The pulsing energy of a group so self-aware and conscious of its shock factor is tangible and is carried through to the audience brilliantly thanks to the show’s light-hearted tone and rich shots. Their costume designing is a tool that Charlotte Walter uses extremely effectively, particularly her clash of colours, patterns and textures- and the unforgettable suede shirt dress worn by Sally- reflecting the upheaval of the time. By breaking down the female silhouette through her layering of random long coats, belts and loose dresses, Walter challenges the female stereotype; the women’s awareness of both the historical and the current, the past and the present, their suffragette predecessors and their own daughters is thus infused into their costumes. The Women’s Liberation Movement was radical, wild, and strong-minded. The geographical placing clearly highlighted the importance of the movement and was the forefront of new liberal ideas at the time.

Fast forward a few months and I am back at uni. Trying to justify not doing my reading by watching a foreign film – we’ve all been there – I came across La Belle Saison on my MUBI suggestions. With the Belgian star Cécile de France pictured in the thumbnail, my decision was made.

La Belle Saison, for those who haven’t seen it, immediately drew upon the atmosphere of Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name. The European summer in the countryside, lazy romance, blend of Romance languages and romantic language as well as the gay coming-of-age narrative draws obvious comparisons between the two. We see the country and city intertwined beautifully through the director Catherine Corsini’s stunning country visuals and soundtrack. Though the focus of La Belle Saison is much more based on the tension between city and country, thus dividing the protagonists, Corsini’s decision to set the plot in Paris imbues the film with the same dynamism as Philippa Lowthorpe’s Misbehaviour. This Parisian women’s group is practically identical- young, energetic, lecture halls, posters. Despite being split geographically and never having crossed paths in real life, I felt a fantastic unity created by these two films. These two capitals, though divided by language and culture, were united by two female directors and female ideas half a century apart.

What drove me to write about these two films are the uncanny visual and cinematic parallels between them, despite the feminist movements having such different receptions and histories in their respective countries. Both directors unwittingly highlight the commonalities within feminism in their respective francophone and anglophone cultures. The development of feminist movements in France and the UK is a fascinating lull and ebb which is formed, reformed, and destroyed as their society and politics change around them. Generally, the feminist movement in the UK is considered to have been much more ‘successful’ thanks to the militant nature of the Suffragettes and the Representation of the People Act 1918, which was the first act to include women. By contrast, feminism in France experienced the lethal combination of Jean-Jacques Rousseau in the 18th century and turbulent political instability, which led to a leaderless and shaky feminist movement weakened by opposition that was both cultural and political.

The feminist movements shown in the two films do have differences in their goals and values, created by the societies that have forced them into existence. Misbehaviour deals with the objectification and commodification of women, whereas La Belle Saison explores the long existing disparity between the country and city. The latter’s perspective has a highly gendered, and also cultural, nuance - the division between north and south was one of rich versus poor, liberal versus traditional. The characters’ tendency to focus on Paris rather than the countryside highlights a key flaw in 20th century French feminism, embodied beautifully in the protagonists Carole and Delphine. This split manifests itself in a deep-rooted uneasiness about the principle of family in France, particularly seen in Delphine’s return to the countryside, and also in the relative independence and control Delphine and her mother experience in the male-dominated world. Interestingly, Corsini’s depiction of the countryside remains beautiful, harmonic, and idyllic despite its comparative backwardness and stiflingly entrenched views of marriage and family, abortion, birth control and homosexuality.

In spite of this cultural disparity, both films’ leads are fully feminist and anti-patriarchy and go against not only the male-dominated values of the time, but also the pseudo-liberation that manifested itself in different ways in the respective cultures. In Misbehaviour, we see Miss Grenada’s tragically optimistic “if I win, there might start to be little girls who believe they have a place in the world”, and in La Belle Saison, Delphine’s similar view as she returns to the countryside to take ownership of her family’s farm. Both share this pseudo-equal perception of the world; for Delphine, it is only the unforeseen absence of both her father and a future husband which leads her to this freedom and control. Both films celebrate and uplift women within and despite cultural differences.

What we unveil in comparing these films is in fact obvious and extremely heart-warming as we look forward towards a more equal future today – the fundamental right to equality that feminism stands for is omnipresent, whether in the UK or France, the 70s or 2020, the city or the country. Cinema is a fantastic way of showing this; it speaks a universal language and communicates with the emotive and human side of us.

Watch Misbehaviour (£9.99, Amazon Prime) here and La Belle Saison (MUBI, free for students) here

(Call Me By Your Name here for £3.49 Amazon Prime, Portrait of a Lady on Fire on MUBI here)

Sybilla Hamilton
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