Tell It Like a Woman
Violence, language, role models in pro-women short films.
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Tell It Like a Woman
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A Lot or a Little?
The parents' guide to what's in this movie.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that the short films that make up the feature Tell It Like a Woman all weave stories of women overcoming odds, and in some cases their tales are very tough. There's description of sexual violence and a lot of language. Some of the films are inspired by true stories. All are directed and written by women, and they show a diversity of identities and international settings, including the United States, India, Italy, and Japan. Women deal with domestic abuse, mental illness, motherhood, suicide, being trans, drug addiction, incarceration, and more. A woman describes her own experiences with sexual assault, first as a 5-year-old forced to sexually please a female babysitter and then as a teenager raped by a group of men. All of the women demonstrate courage and/or compassion, and the film has messages about second chances, rising to the occasion, helping others, and recognizing one's own worth. Language includes "f--k," "s--t," "damn," "dumbass," "sucks," "bitch," "t-tties," "poop," and "butt." The film has backing from gender parity organization We Do It Together.
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What's the Story?
TELL IT LIKE A WOMAN is actually seven stories in one. In the first, Jennifer Hudson stars as an incarcerated mother with substance abuse and mental health issues. In the second, Marcia Gay Harden plays a doctor who helps a woman (Cara Delevingne) with schizophrenia and no home. In the third, Eva Longoria travels to Italy to bury her sister, only to find that she's been assigned as guardian for a niece she didn't know she had. In the fourth, Anne Watanabe plays an overworked mother whose kids do something nice for her. In the fifth, Margherita Buy plays a veterinarian put in a position to help an abused woman. In the sixth, Jacqueline Fernandez stars as an unhappy plastic surgeon who lets go of her pursuit of perfection after meeting a trans woman. The seventh is an animated film where alien-like creatures, forced to repeat gender stereotypes playing on televisions in surveilled concrete cells, are liberated.
Is It Any Good?
Obviously well-intentioned, this collection of short films is uneven and would have benefited from some rearranging to lead with its strongest pieces and eliminate others. As it is, the first two films in Tell It Like a Woman feel a little like instructional reels played in a high school health class. Considering that these two shorts were both inspired by true stories, it makes you wonder whether documentaries of the real people wouldn't have been more interesting.
The most cinematic of the films is director Lucia Puenzo's handsome Lagonegro, which stars Longoria in an understated dramatic performance, speaking Italian. Watanabe is equally captivating with very few lines of dialogue in the Japan-set frenzied-mother tale A Week in My Life, from director Mipo Oh. In Unspoken, Italy's Buy offers a master class in performing with the eyes. The Indian tale of throwing off the shackles of societal conceptions of womanhood is confusing, and the closing animation feels like it belongs in a different movie. Overall, the star-studded cast makes this irregular compilation watchable. Likewise, the message of empowerment in its many varied forms is unimpeachable.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about which of the seven short films in Tell It Like a Woman they liked best and least. Why? What do they all have in common? What are some notable differences?
How do the women in the films show courage? How do they show compassion? Can you give examples from the short films?
What other features have you watched that were compilations of short films? What factors do you think go into deciding how to order the films and how many to include?
Several of the women in the film are mothers. How is motherhood portrayed through them?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming: February 17, 2023
- Cast: Jennifer Hudson, Marcia Gay Harden, Eva Longoria
- Directors: Silvia Carobbio, Lucia Puenzo, Mipo Oh
- Studio: Samuel Goldwyn Films
- Genre: Drama
- Topics: Activism, Great Girl Role Models
- Character Strengths: Compassion, Courage
- Run time: 110 minutes
- MPAA rating: NR
- Last updated: February 21, 2023
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