Certain Women - Kelly Reichardt (2017)

Hey, who likes it when someone pretentiously opens a discussion about a movie with a trite and obvious first sentence? How about: "'Certain Women' is a film about the burdens of being a woman." (You like that?)

The film is an opportunity for director Kelly Reichardt (Wendy and Lucy, Meek's Cutoff) to show us men how our boorish behavior and negligence feels like from a women's points of view. "Certain Women" is about watching men making decisions for women and giving them the harsh choice to either cause a ruckus by defying them or just go with the flow when frankly, either option is exhausting. Women do not deserve to face this choice day in and day out. It is too much to put on one's shoulders. Over time, that weight is devastating.

"Women" is cut into three segments, following the stories of three different women. At the start of the first segment, we watch from Laura's (Laura Dern) point of view as she is dismissed and disrespected professionally because she is not a man. Aside from the small humiliations, being a woman also gives her numbers of reasons why she can not feel safe. (She carries this weight all by herself, too.)

And she takes it all from whiny, unimpressive and sniveling men.

Then there is a crisis and chivalry is chucked out the window entirely. When a dangerous situation presents itself, the "men" in charge badger Laura until she agrees to go into an office building where a madman has taken a security guard. She is not even a cop, but nevertheless, they put her in harms way before endangering anyone else.

Police, EMPs and even the hostage negotiator are happy to sit back and watch. I thought about whether or not the life of a woman is worth less than that of a man. A lot of men seem to feel that way. The rest are simply cowards. In either case, once again with the theme of 'unimpressive.'

The sequence is dream-like while this shameful and cowardly behavior is uncovered. They stand back and watch this civilian woman, Laura, walk inside into a hostage situation.

Once she walks into the room, the madman lets the security guard go and tells him to tell the cops that he would kill 'the woman' if they did anything they did not like.

Now, we see Laura as cannon fodder on top of everything else.

Then we shift to the second part of the film.

When we first meet Gina, (Michelle Williams) she is camping with her husband and their daughter.

They seem like a normal, happy family. But if you look carefully, there is a thoughtlessness, deliberate or not, in the way he treats his wife. He lets her carry the heavy tubs and stops her so he can dig inside to fetch some bungee cords. We can clearly see Gina struggling with the weight, but her husband either does not notice or care.

One of the worst things about chauvinism is that many men have no idea how the way we think and act feels like a natural instinct. Some of us don't consciously realize that we are prejudice.

And men are not the whole problem. Women can demean women, too. One takes it from her husband and passes that hostility onto their children. And on and on and on...

After spending some time with Gina and her family, we cut to the third part of the film.

A quiet, unassuming woman known only as 'The Rancher' (Lily Gladstone) does not seem to have any tangible connections with anybody.

She shows up at a community college and sits unofficially in some classes. She just wants to be around people.

That is where she meets Elizabeth (Kristen Stewart) who teaches law at the school. Elizabeth was tricked into taking this job, forcing her into a four-hour commute. She did not realize it until it was too late that this job is just a practical joke. Months of sleepless inconvenience for Elizabeth, some chuckles for the men in charge, playing a game called screwing around with the woman.


Elizabeth strikes up a rapport with The Rancher, though she barely says a word. At some point, somebody must have taught her the hard way to be seen and not heard.

You might think The Rancher does not have it too bad, the women who keeps her nose down and minds her own business. But we do not understand what hell life can be, passing through unnoticed.

Then The Rancher is floored as she learns that even the sparks of the beginning of a romance can be crushed, just as she gets bold enough to open up to somebody.

Reichardt cut "Certain Women herself." It is impressive how she does not cut the film quickly. She is willing to hold an unforgiving shot long enough for it to sink in, as cruel as that may be.

The endings of these women's stories are each cryptic as they are desperate.

Sometimes, women can grab the upper hand, but more often than not, they don't.

The goal of "Certain Women" is to force men to empathize with women. Not only the obvious, terrible misogyny, but the small things, too.

This film got to me, and I'm a cynical bastard, so I think fans of melodramas and indie films should go nuts over it.

You need patience to really enjoy "Women." If you will stay with this deliberately quiet film, it will pay off handsomely.