Although the femme fatale is still limiting, and is now seen as a bit of a cliché, this character type was shocking to post-war audiences because it showed strong, smart females fighting for something other than love and marriage. This innovative character type became the predecessor of the modern leading lady, and paved the way for new types of roles for women on screen.

The Origin of the Femme Fatale: Mary Astor in THE MALTESE FALCON and Barbara Stanwyck in DOUBLE INDEMNITY

Mary Astor portrays an early version of the Femme Fatale in 1941 through her role of Miss Wonderly, also known as Brigid O’Shaughnessy in THE MALTESE FALCON. Introduced as a timid damsel in distress, Miss Wonderly encapsulates Humphrey Bogart’s interest, which pulls him into her web of lies. Creating the iconic female silhouette in the frosted glass trope, Mary Astor creates the quintessential femme fatale, dressed in 1940s high-fashion, appearing breathless and helpless in every scene and oozing with sex-appeal, which is tantalized further when she enters wearing only her robe, a shocking, provocative outfit at the time. Miss Wonderly is not only beautiful; she is smart and ambitious, which allows her to challenge the masculinity of the men around her, and become the ultimate antagonist in this film noir classic.

Barbara Stanwyck continued this character archetype in 1944 through her cunning portrayal of the most iconic femme fatales of all time: Phyllis Dietrichson in DOUBLE INDEMNITY. A seemingly devoted wife, Phyllis Dietrichson has a not-so-secret agenda, matched with the grit to convince salesman Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) into making a malicious deal. Double Indemnity pushes the femme fatale archetype further through a more open display of power and seduction. Instead of a bathrobe, Stanwyck enters in her bath towel and slippers, further allowing MacMurray (and audiences) to fall under her spell.  As the highest paying actress in Hollywood at the time, Stanwyck was hesitant about taking on this immoral role. However, this glamorous star took on the challenge, and unraveled into a seductress who switches between a warm and alluring enchantress to an icy, conniving viper, entangling the hero salesman and creating one of the most popular renditions of the femme fatale.

Pushing Further: Joan Crawford in MILDRED PIERCE, Rita Hayworth in THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI and Peggy Cummings in GUN CRAZY

As the Femme Fatale grew in popularity, the archetype began to become too predictable for this genre of mystery and plot twists. Film makers began exploring other paths for their female leads. This is especially present in the 1945 film noir classic, MILDRED PIERCE.  Joan Crawford portrays the cunningly ambitious mother who will do anything for her daughter, including eliminating cheating husbands snaring men into murderous situations, and scrounging for money through any means. This portrayal seems to paint Mildred Piece as the stereotypical femme fatale, begging for an ending where Mildred reveals her malicious intentions before being dragged off to jail. However, MILDRED PIERCE takes a turn, creating a new female archetype: The Femme Modern.

Unlike the Femme Fatale, whose archetype centers around women seeking power through sex appeal, the Femme Modern is often portrayed as a hard-working strong female with good intentions that she achieves through more masculine means rather than sex-appeal, an archetype that was very relevant in World War II when women entered the workforce.  While MILDRED PIERCE defines a new archetype, it still stays true to the Film Noir genre, involving an unexpected femme fatale twist, making it a film noir masterpiece.

Orson Welles pushed Film Noir in a different direction through his dramatic 1947 film, THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI. Starring Rita Hayworth in the Femme Fatale role of Elsa Bannister, Orson Welles follows the femme fatale archetype, while giving his then wife a more realistic motive. Instead of seeking power and money through sex, Hayworth explores Elsa’s need for justice and brokenness from her abusive past. Unlike the classic femme fatale, Hayworth does not create a guise of fragility and morality, but is openly cold and impassive throughout the entire movie. Her unraveling does not come from the male sleuth’s discovery of her scheme, but from her own self-discovery of how her need for retribution has changed her.

The Femme Fatale archetype continued to evolve in films throughout the 1940s and 50s, including in the 1950’s film, GUN CRAZY. Peggy Cummings portrays a less conventional femme fatale, Annie, a pants-wearing, dead shot searching for a companion for a Bonnie and Clyde-like adventure. The film follows the femme fatale archetype, showing the growing deadly attraction between Annie and the newly reformed Bard (Russ Tamblyn) while pushing the boundaries of gender at the time through Annie’s traditionally masculine attributes.

Celebrate these ground breaking femme fatale characters in the exciting cinematic genre of film noir! Watch the progression of the femme fatale and the foundation of fearless female roles in films throughout all these films in our special curated series playing every Wednesday in May at Reading Cinemas Cal Oaks and The Tower Theatre.

Pattinson was originally drawn to the film due to Denis herself as the director, and when he heard the film described, he was hooked. Denis describes film in itself as “like songs.. made to describe feelings, moments..” and that is how she comes to her work.

Though Denis doesn’t like to refer to HIGH LIFE as “science fiction,” she did meet an astro-physicist to help consult on the project and help explain the scientific concepts within it. Another concept that required some consultation was the design of the spaceship. Here, Denis describes that design process:

Pattinson describes, “one of the high points of [his] career,” as working with Andre 3000. In this clip, he describes his starstruck encounter:

Click here to visit our YouTube channel and see the full Q&A!

About the film:

Beyond the solar system in a future that seems like the present, a group of criminals accept a mission in space to become the subjects of a human reproduction experiment. They find themselves in the most unimaginable situation after a storm of cosmic rays hit the ship.

View the trailer:

Where to see it: 

HIGH LIFE opens Friday 4/12 at the Tower Theatre.

After the resounding success of MOONLIGHT and its Academy Awards Best Picture win, the bar was high for IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK, and it most definitely does not disappoint. This film, both rapturous and heart-wrenching, has received 3 Golden Globe nominations including Best Motion Picture – Drama, and is touting a 94% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Rolling Stone raves, “Barry Jenkins creates one of the year’s 10 best films by celebrating black love and a human connection that can raise you up and move you to tears. Regina King’s performance should finally get her the Oscar she’s deserved for years.”

“Barry Jenkins channels all of James Baldwin’s lyricism and anger into a story of love and injustice that burns with a gentle flame, occasionally blazing into a white heat,” says TimeOut. Jenkins says that Baldwin’s work “meant everything” to him. Here, he discusses what it was like to adapt the novel into a film:

“Family is a theme outside and inside the film,” says Regina King. The  Golden Globe nominated actress, whose previous credits include American Crime, Ray and Seven Seconds, says that it was the Baldwin/Jenkins combination that initially attracted her to the project. “I felt the love story,” she states, “I felt like Barry’s adaptation was spot on… the love story that takes place around the lovers… that’s what was interesting and made me want to be a part of it.”

Jenkins says that love stories have to be grounded in social reality to . Like Chiron and Kevin in MOONLIGHT, Tish and Fonny in BEALE STREET are held back from some elements of their love story because of their social reality. Here, Jenkins elaborates on the parallels in the two films:

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About the film:

Academy Award winning director Barry Jenkins (MOONLIGHT) brings to life IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK, based on the acclaimed novel by James Baldwin. It follows a Harlem woman whose fiance is unjustly imprisoned, who sets out to clear his name and prove his innocence. Starring KiKi Layne, Stephan James, Colman Domingo, Regina King and Brian Tyree Henry.

View the trailer:

Where to see it:

IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK opens December 25 at The Tower Theatre and January 4 at Town Square.

Joyce DiDonato, narrator of Maria Callas in Tom Volf’s documentary MARIA BY CALLAS, was actually the film’s catalyst towards being made. Volf saw DiDonato perform at the Met, and was immediately inspired, and then fell into a YouTube hole exploring the performances of and interviews with Maria Callas. After that, he became the “driving force” in getting the film made, as described by DiDonato. She elaborates on his fervor here:

The film is “her chance to come and be heard on her own terms,” says DiDonato. Sincerity and vulnerability were the keys to creating this film and speaking the words of Callas. DiDonato elaborates on voicing Maria Callas in this clip:

“Its humbling to watch somebody at the pinnacle,” says DiDonato, “but then we also have the obligation to see the other side of it.” DiDonato describes callas as “iconic” and names La Sonnambula as an aria that stands out as one of her greatest.

For more on Maria Callas’ life and work, visit maria-callas.com.

Click here to visit our YouTube channel and see the full Q&A!

About the film:

Tom Volf’s MARIA BY CALLAS is the first film to tell the life story of the legendary Greek/American opera singer completely in her own words. Told through performances, TV interviews, home movies, family photographs, private letters and unpublished memoirs—nearly all of which have never been shown to the public—the film reveals the essence of an extraordinary woman who rose from humble beginnings in New York City to become a glamorous international superstar and one of the greatest artists of all time.

View the trailer:

Where to see it:

MARIA BY CALLAS opens Friday 11/12 at the Tower Theatre.

Set in the Belle Epoque and with a screenplay initially written 17 years ago, COLETTE is a biopic that astutely examines gender and sexuality in ways that are more relevant than ever in 2018. But the journey to COLETTE was a long one for director Wash Westmoreland, who, alongside his co-writer and late husband Richard Glatzer, took the screenplay through over 15 drafts before finally bringing it to life. “This film could have found relevance at any time in the last hundred years,” Westmoreland states. He elaborates on that here:

While the real Colette was so far ahead of her time, her husband Willy was as well. Despite his villanous nature, Dominic West (THE WIRE, CHICAGO) plays him as sincere, charming and the life of the party. Together, Colette and Willy were an empire – capitalizing on the Claudine sensation and becoming what Westmoreland describes as “the John & Yoko of the era” or even the Kim and Kanye!

Keira Knightley, now known as the queen of period pieces, drives the film and shines in doing so. Rolling Stone raves, “A radiant, riveting Keira Knightley meets every challenge the title role of French novelist Colette throws at her and turns this tale of a pioneering feminist into an exhilarating kick.” After reading the screenplay and becoming “intrigued” by it, Knightley initially met Westmoreland via a FaceTime call. Westmoreland describes that meeting here:

Click here to visit our YouTube channel and see the full Q&A!

About the film:

From Director Wash Westmoreland (STILL ALICE), COLLETTE is being heralded by Variety as “one of the great roles for which Keira Knightley will be remembered.” Colette (Knightley) is transplanted from her childhood home to Paris after marrying successful writer Willy (Dominic West). After being convinced to ghostwrite for him Collete pens a semi-autobiographical novel about a witty and brazen country girl named Claudine, sparking a bestseller and a cultural sensation. After its success, Colette and Willy become the talk of Paris and their sexual adventures with other women inspire additional Claudine novels. Colette’s fight over creative ownership and gender roles drives her to overcome societal constraints, revolutionizing literature, fashion and sexual expression.

View the trailer:

Where to see it:

COLETTE is now playing at the Tower Theatre, and opens Friday 10/12 at Cal Oaks and Town Square.

FREE SOLO documentary co-director Jimmy Chin decided to make a film about Honnold after making his previous film, MERU. Chin describes Honnold as “an anomaly” who is “on a totally different level” in terms of skill, strength, difficulty and risk. Chin’s wife and co-director Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi had a lot to consider when planning to make (or not make) this film. Would they be culpable if there were a disaster? Did they want to encourage this dangerous feat?

Ultimately, the decision came down to their trust in Honnold and respect for his plan to make this solo climb regardless of whether or not it was to be filmed.

When it came to the filmmaking, the entire crew had to be professional climbers, since they had to be up close and personal with the El Capitan and the Yosemite terrain while Honnold was climbing, and even climb themselves. “Climber first, filmmaker second,” Chin states. Here, he elaborates on the challenges of that intense multi-tasking:

“I don’t think I can survive another MERU,” says Chin. The stresses of making a film with such high risk for its subjects were very real. On top of that, Chin was also working on a magazine story for National Geographic, taking photographs, and thereby adding a third layer to the already-intense tasks of climbing and filmmaking. He chats about that here:

Despite all the challenges, the film culminated into something that you won’t soon forget. Rolling Stone raves, “As Alex Honnold climbs El Capitan solo and without a net, you feel every adrenaline-pumping moment.” And the Los Angeles Times says, “Both intimate and expansive, Free Solo is a documentary beautifully calculated to literally take your breath away. And it does.”

You won’t want to miss the rush.

Click here to visit our YouTube channel and see the full Q&A!

About the film:

From award-winning documentary filmmaker E. Chai Vasarhelyi and world-renowned photographer and mountaineer Jimmy Chin, comes FREE SOLO, a stunning, intimate and unflinching portrait of free soloist climber Alex Honnold, as he prepares to achieve his lifelong dream: climbing the face of the world’s most famous rock… the 3,200ft El Capitan in Yosemite National Park… without a rope

View the trailer:

Where to see it:

FREE SOLO opens 10/26 at the Tower Theatre.

Audiard joined us at the Angelika New York for a Q&A on his film’s opening night, alongside co-screenwriter Thomes Bidegain, and star Jake Gyllenhaal. THE SISTERS BROTHERS marked Audiard’s first English-language film, and the project was presented to him by John C. Reilly – who sent him the novel of the same name, that initially inspired him to make it into a film. Audiard knew that he wanted to work with Gyllenhaal, and the feeling was certainly mutual. Gyllenhaal elaborates on that here:

“The luxury of working with someone like Jacques.. probably 70% of your work is done for you, before you even show up,” Gyllenhaal states. He elaborates on his admiration for Audiard & his work:

Though the film is a Western, it does draw in these that are very relevant to current day – race, immigration, diversity, masculinity… Bidegain describes the film’s story as “two guys, chasing one guy, who’s chasing an idea.” Audiard did take some creative liberties when adapting the novel to a film, but at the end of the day, he “believes in cinema… it has to move me.. teach me something about the human soul.” His full ‘profound statement’ is elaborated here:

Click here to visit our YouTube channel and see the full Q&A!

About the film:

Based on Patrick Dewitt’s acclaimed novel of the same name, the film follows two brothers – Eli and Charlie Sisters (Joaquin Phoenix and John C. Reilly) – who are hired to kill a prospector who has stolen from their boss. The story, a wildly entertaining genre-hybrid with comedic elements, takes place in Oregon in 1851. THE SISTERS BROTHERS is Jacques Audiard’s follow-up to his Palme D’Or Winning DHEEPAN, which premiered at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.

View the trailer:

Where to see it:

THE SISTERS BROTHERS opens Friday 10/5 at the Tower Theatre, and 10/12 at Reading Cinemas Manville.

At the film’s heart is Elsie Fisher (who’d previously lended her voice talents to the DESPICABLE ME franchise), in her first lead role. She states that she and Burnham “found a kinship” immediately to do their shared characteristic of anxiousness.

Fisher visited our sister location, Angelika New York, for a Q&A, alongside fellow cast members Jake Ryan (MOONRISE KINGDOM, ISLE OF DOGS), Imani Lewis (THE GET DOWN), Emily Robinson (TRANSPARENT) and Fred Hechinger (ALEX STRANGELOVE).

The universality of the film, and of Elsie’s character, Kayla, is a huge draw of the film. We all remember eighth grade… the traumas, the hopes, the embarassment… and nowadays, the social media. Fisher states that everything is “amplified” with social media as the backdrop – there’s an added permanence to mistakes, and a heightened sense of comparison, self-awareness and even a loneliness despite social media’s true purpose – to connect to one another.

Kayla is a ‘YouTuber’ in the film, and “Gucci!” is her sign-off. Here, Fisher shares how that catchphrase came about:

The film examines mental health as it relates to these young characters and their experience. Fisher states that the fan response has been “overwhelming in the best way possible,” and the fact that it was able to tap into these issues, along with how much fun they had making it, is the icing on the cake.

The film did feature a bit of improvisation, but on set, Burnham was also open to hearing any and all input on ideas from the cast and the crew. On top of that, the actors were able to seamlessly step into the characters and make them real and relatable. Here, Imani Lewis and Emily Robinson talk about the character of Riley (played by Daniel Zolghadri, ALEX STRANGELOVE).

Burnham was able to tap into the experience of a young girl with such expert insight. From every “uh…” to each “so, like..”, the writing truly reflected the way that eighth graders, or at least Fisher, speaks. Here, she elaborates on what was written vs. what was improvised within the film:

Click here to visit our YouTube channel & see the full Q&A!

About the film:

Bo Burnham’s Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize nominated film EIGHTH GRADE centers on thirteen-year-old Kayla, who endures the tidal wave of contemporary suburban adolescence as she makes her way through the last week of middle school—the end of her thus far disastrous eighth grade year—before she begins high school.

View the trailer:

Where to see it:

EIGHTH GRADE is now playing at the Tower Theatre, and opens 8/3 at Cal Oaks, Town Square and Manville.