Long ago, I saw the movie Mädchen in Uniform (Germany, 1931). A girl goes to a Prussian boarding school run by a proto-fascist headmistess and falls in love with the school's one compassionate teacher. Banned by the Nazis and banned in the United States until Eleanor Roosevelt praised it.
It surprised me how refreshing it was to see a movie with an all female cast for a change. There are way too many men in movies.
I just read an old article in Variety about Susanne Bier who suggested a separate Oscar category for best female director. And why not? They have separate categories for male and female actors.
“At its most cynical,” Bier said, “this would reward the choices made by studios who consider the work of women filmmakers, while shaming those who do not.”
The moronic comments attacking her---"lol" is not really an argument---made me think it was probably a good idea.
I don't know what Lars von Trier has against her. Remember his long, rambling Nazi "joke" that got him kicked out of Cannes? Here it is again----I'll put references to Susanne Bier in bold:
The only thing I can tell is that I thought I was a Jew for a long time and I was very happy being a Jew. Then, later on, came Susanne Bier and I wasn't so happy about being a Jew. Oh, that was a joke, sorry. But it turned out I was not a Jew and, if I was a Jew, I would be a second-rate Jew because there is a kind of hierarchy. Anyway, I really wanted to be a Jew and then I found out I was really a Nazi, you know ... because my family was German - Hartmann - ... which also gave me some pleasure. So I'm kind of ... [Here a journalist interrupts: "Sir?", but Von Trier does not respond.] I ... what can I say? I understand Hitler. ... I think he did some wrong things, yes absolutely. But I can see him sitting in his bunker in the end. [Here Kirsten Dunst interrupts him, saying to someone else, "Oh my God, this is terrible!" Von Trier turns to her and reassures her: "But there will come a point at the end of this." Then he turns to the press again.] No, I'm just saying that I think I understood the man. He's not what you would call a good guy, but I ... yeah, I understand much about him and I sympathize with him a little bit, yes. But come on, I'm not for the Second World War! And I'm not against Jews - Susanne Bier! - no, not even Susanne Bier. That was also a joke. I'm of course very much for Jews - no, not too much because Israel is a pain in the ass. But still, how can I get out of this sentence? [Here a journalist interrupts: "By another question! Here's your salvation." But Von Trier continues:] No, I just want to say, about the art of the ... I'm very much for Speer. Speer I liked. Albert Speer I liked. He was also maybe [not?] one of God's best children, but he had some talent that was kind of ... possible for him to use during ... [sighs] OK, I'm a Nazi!"
Von Trier had grown up thinking that his Jewish stepfather was his biological father. He had only recently been told by his mother on her deathbed that his biological father was a German. I guess the only joke here is that he keeps calling Germans "Nazis".
I've never understood von Trier's appeal. I liked Melancholia but it was in English and von Trier apparently can't distinguish one accent in English from another. A British and an American actress play sisters.
Susanne Bier's In a Better World
I just watched some of Susanne Bier's In a Better World, available on The Criterion Channel.
It was Danish, but I had said this before about Sweden, that it seems so clean and wholesome and progressive, how could a Swedish movie not be dramatically inert? How could they have any conflict? It turns out, of course, that the country is full of rapists and Nazis.
But Bier saw this same problem with Denmark and set out to make Danish society look a bit rougher. It has a couple of smaller tweenagers dealing with a school bully, which they do rather effectively. Then a father deals with a bullying auto mechanic.
Although, come to think of it, the main characters were pretty much all male.
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