Out of Africa

Baroness Blixen stares many challenges in their face, and lives to tell the tale. After a steep learning curve, she learns to stand on her own, and ends up with a man who respects her but whom she learns she has to accept on his terms, too. Though she’s open-minded, Blixen and others are somewhat hobbled by the realities of the time period. She and a friend are a little shocked, for instance, by the romance that develops between a white man and a Somali woman.

A woman talks about having lovers; at one point, she’s involved with two brothers. A new husband takes the arrangement a little too lightly, flirting with a woman at his wedding. The couple is shown snuggling under a blanket, ostensibly naked though only their bare shoulders hint at what has transpired. Later, she catches a sexually transmitted disease, syphilis, from him after he is unfaithful. After being cured, she takes up with another man, with whom she’s very affectionate. (We see them kiss but not much else).

In the beginning, one character appears very attached to her belongings; she name-drops the brand, Limoges.