From 5 March to 7 April Soggettiva Gallery presents Cinematic Women, an exhibition focused on the importance of women in Cinema. The graphic works on display illustrate a path of self-determination culminating with Poor Things, awarded with the Golden Lion, starring and produced by Emma Stone
On the one hand, Marilyn Monroe in The Misfits – a film that ended her brief and dazzling ascent – is the protagonist alongside Clark Gable in the dreamy work of Cristina Stifanic; on the other, Adam Juresko pays homage to Jane Fonda, unforgettable space explorer with costumes designed by a young Paco Rabanne in Barbarella, role rejected by Virna Lisi and Brigitte Bardot for the sensual nature of some scenes of the film.
FEMININITY IN ALL ITS FORMS
A section focused on films who carry feminist message could not be missing: from the silent yet expressive incarnation created by Renée Falconetti in The Passion of Joan of Arc – redesigned by the designer of Chinese origins Zi Xu – up to the performance by Salma Hayek in the role of Frida, in which the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo is gently revised through pastel shades from Le Nevralgie Costanti.
Following are some representative works of the recent goals achieved by films where women play roles of fundamental importance: starting from two films directed by Greta Gerwig such as Little Women – which inspired the Los Angeles artist Nan Lawson – and Barbie – extraordinary box office record from whose scenography was born the work that the English illustrator George Townley dedicates to the film – up to Poor Things, a tale of female self-determination enriched by the interpretation of Emma Stone, here also producer, protagonist of the surreal work of Milanese artist Matteo Costa.
NOUVELLE FEMME
A male gaze that has been able to enhance the female figure in cinema is offered by Jean-Luc Godard: three of his films characterized by female characters capable of leaving their mark such as Jean Seberg in Breathless and Anna Karina in Vivre sa vie and La femme est une femme. Adam Juresko dedicates three graphic works expressed in images with different colors and grains thanks to different printing techniques.
HOLLYWOOD WOMEN
Finally, a deepening is reserved for the representation of women within an important cinematographic movement such as New Hollywood. Among the others, Quentin Tarantino has been able to return complex characters, at the same time powerful and vulnerable: among them the one entrusted to Pam Grier in Jackie Brown, a film tribute to the work of digital artist Ellie Lees and the American designer Aaron Lea.
Ridley Scott has three films that offer a new conception of women: Alien – with the works of Prenzy and Max Dalton – Blade Runner – with the works of Max Dalton and French artist Guillaume Morellec and Thelma & Louise, with an emblematic work of storyteller Justin Froning. By the Coen brothers there will be True Grit, in which the character of Mattie Ross, played by Hailee Steinfield, plays a role as central as (if not more) True Grit himself.
NO COUNTRY FOR WOMEN
Finally, a survey is dedicated to the cinema of the Coen brothers, full of violence and poetry at the same time, on the occasion of the release in cinemas on March 7 of Drive-Away Dolls, written and edited by Ethan Coen together with his wife Tricia Cooke and characterized by a female cast in which the protagonists Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan stand out.
The collaboration between the Coen brothers and Tricia Cooke has deep roots, starting from their third film, MILLER’S CROSSING, to which the American graphic designer Maxwell Joseph Hargreaves dedicated a highly immersive work. In addition to masterpieces such as The Big Lebowski and Fargo, the exhibition also includes films less known to the general public such as Blood Simple, the Coens’ debut film starring a young and lethal Frances McDormand.
INFO
SOGGETTIVA GALLERY
Via Pasquale Sottocorno 5/A, 20122 Milano
3357722437 – 3458463222
Opening hours:
Tuesday – Friday 10 – 20.30
Saturday and Sunday 10-13.30 // 16-19.30
