After watching Paul Mazursky’s An Unmarried Woman, a film hailed upon its release in 1978 as a groundbreaking feminist text, and celebrated for the central performance of Jill Clayburgh as a cheated-on spouse, Dara wonders about the legacy of strong female characters on screen and asks who of today’s actresses best represents ideas of female power and strength.
It is essentially a question about feminism and feminist representation in the movies, and Dara questions the language that is typically used to describe a particular type of female character or the woman portraying them.
After discussing the Mazursky film in some detail and confessing not to have loved it, Dara recalls some iconic actresses of yesteryear who belong to the discussion at hand, before focusing on the brilliance of Frances McDormand and some of her key performances, including her recent Oscar-winning turns in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and the profoundly moving Nomadland.