REVIEW: I’m Your Woman (2020)

Directed by Julia Hart — Screenplay by Julia Hart & Jordan Horowitz.

In the first scenes of Julia Hart’s latest film, I’m Your Woman, we are introduced to Jean (played by Rachel Brosnahan) who has become passive and inactive as she has resigned herself to never become a mother, which she had always hoped to become. For Jean, days go by at home, while her husband, Eddie (played by Bill Heck), goes out to do God-knows-what. But then one day her dream comes true in the oddest way possible. One day, Eddie stands in the doorway with a nameless child who he insists is theirs.

With a baby in her arms, she now feels rejuvenated, even though she is still unable to cook anything without making a mess. But this isn’t the only life-changing event that she will have to get used to quickly. Late at night, one of Eddie’s partners comes by her door. This acquaintance instructs her that something has gone wrong, and she has to leave town immediately or suffer the consequences. With a baby in hand, she gets into a car with Cal (played by Arinzé Kene), who tells her that he will get her to safety while this whole thing blows over. But all is not right for the new mother, and she quickly starts to ask questions about who her husband really is.

I quite enjoyed Julia Hart’s subversive take on a 1970s crime drama, I’m Your Woman. It’s a good directorial effort from Julia Hart, and I’d also like to compliment the production design and cinematographer Bryce Fortner since they capture the 1970s look really well. Brosnahan plays the part of a housewife who might’ve been underwritten back in the day, but, in this go-around, it is her point of view that the film’s narrative is told from. I am becoming a pretty big fan of Rachel Brosnahan, whose time as the Marvelous Ms. Maisel has thus far been delightful, and she gives a solid, albeit slightly unremarkable, performance in I’m Your Woman. Supporting cast members such as Arinzé Kene and Marsha Stephanie Blake both deliver scene-stealing performances.

What makes this film particularly interesting is the perspective and point of view of the narrative, which allows the film to focus on the awakening of a traditional crime-film housewife and, in some scenes, on racial tension. It is true that it becomes slightly frustrating that almost every development in the crime narrative happens off-screen, but that is essentially the point of the film, though. This approach also allows for notable character development, as the main character goes from being passive to quite literally taking control of her fate and the steering wheel. I would also say that the pacing of the film makes it feel a tad too long.

Although Julia Hart’s crime drama is overlong and slow-moving, its narrative’s perspective, or point of view, is refreshing and subversive. So while Julia Hart’s I’m Your Woman won’t be for everyone, it is an easy film to recommend due to its stylish period look and its twist on the 1970s crime drama.

8 out of 10

– Review Written by Jeffrey Rex Bertelsen.