overcoming stereotypes • isolation • the value of age and the cult of youth
AUSTRALIA AND THE PACIFIC
Age Before Beauty (Australia 1980)
Film, 16 mm, 18 min., color, in English
Made by Susan Lambert and Sarah Gibson - Independent Women's Films
Distributor: Sydney Filmmakers Cooperative (Australia)
This film presents a positive view of old age. It shows older women engaged in various activities such as dancing, reading their own poetry, undergoing acupuncture and chiropractic treatments and having sexual encounters. The film also exposes the negative stereotyping of older women and investigates women's fears of the aging process.
EUROPE
Et Si C'etait l'Inverse... Messieurs
Film, 16 mm, 35 mm, 100 min., in French
Made by Les Soeurs Rouges
Distributor: Grain de Sable (France)
The film portrays the daily oppression that a fifty-year-old woman faces in Denmark today and can be used to stimulate discussion about the kind of discrimination and difficulties confronting older women in northern European and other societies.
Take It Like a Man, Ma'am (Denmark 1975)
Film, 96 min., color, in Danish with English subtitles
Made by Red Sisters Collective
Distributor: The Other Cinema (England)
This film explores the problems of middle-aged women. Centered around Ellen Rasmussen, a fifty-year-old housewife whose children have grown up and left home, the film paints a bleak picture of her world. Taking comfort in alcohol and an old picture album Ellen has a hilarious nightmare of sexual role reversal. Coming down to earth when she awakes, Ellen finds work despite her husband's opposition, becoming involved in an industrial dispute.
Change of Life - "Overgang" (Netherlands 1980)
Video, 3/4 in., 45 min., color, in Dutch with English subtitles
Made by Rosemarie Blank
Distributor: Women in Focus Arts and Media Centre (Canada)
This videotape is about older women's lives. Through the formation of VIDO (Women in Change, Amsterdam), a group for older women, women get together and compare such common problems as menopause, the medical system, frustrations with the role of women in the family, disappointments in marriage, material gain, and loneliness. Through their contact and support of each other, they are able to make changes in their lives towards both material and emotional independence.
LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
A Terceira Idade (Brazil 1982)
(Old Age)
In Portuguese
Made by Eliane Bandeira and Marilia de Andrade
Distributor: Cinema Distribucao Independente (Brazil)
This film deals with the crisis of a woman in her fifties who, upon reaching menopause, is forced to rethink her values and her life within both the family and the working world. Inspired by a longing for life, she brings together her thoughts about the past and the future in an effort to discover new sources of strength inside herself. This film received an award at the 11th Brazilian Day of Short Films in 1982.
NORTH AMERICA
La Cage Doree (Canada)
(On Our Own Way)
Film, 26 min., in French and English
Made by Michele Renaud Molnar and Margaret Pettigrew
Distributors: Studio D (USA), National Film Board of Canada (Canada)
This film examines the situation of older women in Canada and illustrates the inadequacy of their incomes, their isolation and their loss of self-esteem and social status in a society that idolizes youth.
A Rose by Any Other Name (USA)
Film, 16 mm, 15 min., color, in English
Made by Judith Keller
Distributor: Adelphi University Multidisciplinary Center on Aging (USA)
The film is about the older person's search for closeness, privacy and love. A nonclinical educational film, it portrays the experiences and problems of older people living in long-term institutions.
Pense a Ton Desir (Canada 1984)
(Think of Your Own Pleasure)
Video, 3/4 in., 30 min., color, in French
Made by Diane Poitras
Producer: Les Productions Contre Jour and Coop Video de Montreal
Distributor: Groupe Intervention Video (GIV) (Canada)
In Canada, one adult woman out of three is over fifty. Yet, as in most other countries, Canadian society continues to emphasize youth and does not forgive women for aging. This video seeks to uncover this hidden part of women's lives by focusing on the lives of two women, Simone and Marie, who, in their meetings with other women, have begun to ask a number of questions about aging. What, the video asks, actually goes on in the minds of older women? And finally, what is the secret power that can make these "witches" into such wonderful rebels?
SEE ALSO
Other resources that address the themes of this chapter are listed below. The chapters where they may be found are given in boldface type.
ASIA
Ourselves and Our Bodies
Kahani Nahanachi (India) – adolescence
AUSTRALIA AND THE PACIFIC
Reproductive Rights
Fifteen (Australia) - adolescence
EUROPE
Images of Women
Taught to Be Girls (England) - adolescence
Identity, Roles and Relationships
Le Madonnare (Italy) - aging
On the Margins/Prostitution
Baby Sex - Forbidden Ground (West Germany) - adolescence
Reproductive Rights
La Pilule C'est Pas des Smarties (France) - adolescence
Ourselves and Our Bodies
Well Woman/Change of Life (England) - aging
LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
Identity, Roles and Relationships
Simplemente Jenny (Bolivia) - adolescence
Ourselves and Our Bodies
Creciendo (Peru) - adolescence
NORTH AMERICA
Images of Women
Anything You Want to Be (USA) - adolescence
Our Little Munchkin Here (USA) - adolescence
Identity, Roles and Relationships
Concepts/Glass Curtains (USA) - aging
Ourselves and Our Bodies
The Invisible Woman (USA) - adolescence
The Menopause Story (USA) - aging
On N'est Plus d'Enfants (Canada) - adolescence