En résumé: Les femmes d’un village entre l’Afrique du nord et le Moyen-Orient font la grève de l’amour pour essayer de convaincre leurs maris d‘aller chercher l’eau à la source en haut de la montagne à leur place.Film un peu lent, où la caricature n’est jamais loin, qui est également drôle et souvent réjouissant.
La Source des femmes is the work of Radu Mihaileanu and Alain-Michel Blanc, the directorial and scriptwriting team behind Le Concert. This time they have left the angst-ridden former Bolshoi ballet behind for an anonymous village somewhere between North Africa and the Middle East, where trouble is afoot. Drought has been blighting the region for a decade, and lazy infrastructure development means the only source of water is small conduit high up in the hills. While the village’s largely unemployed men put their feet up, it’s the women – as tradition dictates – who hoist themselves huge distances to fetch the water. This is exhausting at best and miscarriage-inducing at worst.
Leila, played by the lovely Leïla Bekhti (for one of the most emotional acceptance speeches eversee here), is a newcomer from the south who has married for love, and acquired the mother-in-law from hell for her trouble (Fatima, played by Hiam Abbass). Luckily, she also has a sweet sister-in-law, Loubna Esmeralda (Hafsia Herzi). Leila’s particularly disgusted at what the village’s women have to endure. The grande dame of thevillage, ‘Old Pistol’ (Biyouna) urges the village’s women to agree when Leila calls for a ‘love strike’ to change their men’s minds about the water situation if they ever want to have sex again.
More than just water is hanging in the balance
As the strike kicks in, some of the village’s men resort to beating and raping their wives, while others such as Leila’s schoolteacher husband Sami are much more conciliatory, although the pressures on the women to capitulate are still immense. When some of the women waver owing to their husband’s brutality, Old Pistol asks them how they ever hope to stop their husbands treating them like cattle if they give up, and if they think that their husbands will love them any more if they continue to accept their violence. The answer being no, the strike escalates.
There are some very warm, entertaining moments, such as when some oblivious tourists are shown around the village for a fee and treated to a traditional performance where the women begin to pepper their singing with criticisms of their husbands’ heartlessness, while the men are forced to continue clapping along with increasingly forced smiles on their faces. There are warm and spirited performances from the actors, and although the film takes a pace that often felt too sluggish for me, it’s uplifting to watch the women making increasingly effective strides in their fight for respect and greater equality. There’s a bit too much typecasting swilling around in the mix, and it’s yet another of those films whose trailer takes care to highlight most, although mercifully not all, of the major plot developments.
A possible breakthrough: village man offers to pour own tea
I did often find myself regularly wanting to punch a wall thanks to the sheer dolt-headed bloody-mindedness of many of the village’s men in the film – the ‘next they’ll be wanting washing machines’ line of argument went down particularly well. I could feel the strings being pulled though, and resented that for its heavy-handedness. But I was far from sorry for having gone, and am now left with increasingly positive memories of this warm and, at times, gently humorous film.
We want sex (sur nos écrans en mars prochain), derrière tant de promesses de stupre, bien peu de luxure, mais un film féministe narrant la lutte des ouvrières de l’usine Ford à Dagenham, pour une égalité de salaire. Le dernier film que nous avons vu à Dinard a reçu tous les prix, le Grand Prix (Hitchcock d’or) ex-aequo avec le touchant Treacle Jr., mais aussi le Prix du Public (Hitchcock d’argent) et le Prix du meilleur scénario. Autant dire que Nigel Cole, le réalisateur, et toute son équipe sont repartis ravis, rassasiés, triomphants des plages bretonnes. De fait, leur film est agréable et amusant et Miss J. et moi-même l’avons bien apprécié. Quelle ne fut pas notre surprise de découvrir qu’une de nos amies, la charmante et victorienne Dr. K. l’avait également vu, lors d’une avant-première britannique. Elle nous conte dans le détail ce qu’elle en a pensé, nos critiques suivront :
Since The Full Monty (which this reviewer enjoyed at the time, but would not now be desperate to see ever again), a genre of British film has arisen which might be loosely termed the ‘working-class*-underdogs-led-by-charismatic-and-driven-photogenic**-main-underdog-take-on-the-establishment-and-win!-while-learning-something-important-and-heartwarming-about-Family-and/or-Friendship’ movie. In this context, a reviewer with a distaste for the sentimental might be forgiven for approaching Made in Dagenham with caution. However, shortly before Monsieur D. and Dr. J. (Dr.!!!: Congratulations!) attended the screening at the Dinard festival, I was lucky enough to be given tickets to a preview in Nottingham, followed by a question-and-answer session with Billy Ivory. I am quite cheap, so was obviously won over immediately by the prospect of a free trip to the cinema, and therefore entered the screening with every expectation of enjoyment.
Made in Dagenham, written by Billy Ivory and directed by Nigel Cole, is based on the real-life story of the group of women machine operators at Ford’s Dagenham plant who went on strike for three weeks in 1968, initially in protest at sexism in their job grading (women making seat covers were classified as unskilled workers while men doing the same job were semi-skilled), and subsequently for equal pay. The women were eventually awarded 92% of the men’s rate, though, irritatingly for them, they did not receive the contested semi-skilled status until 16 years later. The strike is also credited with leading to the 1970 Equal Pay Act, which made it illegal to offer more favourable pay and conditions to men for the same work as women. The film focuses on the fictionalised unofficial ‘leader’ of the women, Rita (Sally Hawkins), following her through various obstacles (male hostility, family tensions, obstructive trade union officials, wavering solidarity) to eventual success at a meeting with the employment secretary.
All these girls have gorgeous bicycles ...
We are, of course, in the land of British heartwarming comedy, so naturally the strikers tend to be on the whole younger and more attractive than their real-life counterparts. The photogenic-main-underdog character Rita is only loosely based on the real ringleader, who by all accounts was rather less delicate and pretty and quite a bit scarier. But one doesn’t really expect total verisimilitude in this type of film, and on the whole it seems preferable for reasons both of ethics and of plot structure to invent fictional composites for main characters rather than producing airbrushed biographies of real people. This doesn’t apply to less central characters, however, and Miranda Richardson’s Barbara Castle is marvellously reminiscent of her Elizabeth I in Blackadder.
In the post-film Q&A when the screenwriter mentioned that the working title had been ‘We Want Sex’ – perhaps designed to place the film firmly in the vaguely-raunchy-yet-family-friendly Full Monty category – I remember thinking it would have been a pretty stupid title and that they had come to their senses in time. Evidently in France they hadn’t, though admittedly Dagenham might not have the same resonance to a French audience, and We Want Sex is certainly eyecatching, albeit somewhat misleading. The film is not really very sexy, apart from some quite impressive hotpants. And some spectacularly beautiful bicycles. Actually, the publicity still in which the ‘-ual Equality’ is missing from the women’s banners is drawn from one of those real-life comic moments that might be funnier for not being rammed down the audience’s throats. And in fact what I think makes Made in Dagenham so successful is its lightness of touch: although the central underdog—cause—obstacles—solidarity—success! storyline is of course kept very much in the foreground, the film manages to touch on various other points without feeling the need to make them too obvious.
Running towards subtlety
This is mainly achieved by focusing on the ‘comedy’ element of the genre rather more than the ‘heartwarming’ part. A scene in which Bob Hoskins’s shop steward convinces Rita to take on the role of spokeswoman for the machinists (the obligatory ‘only you can do it!’ scene) threatened to become mawkish, but his heartrending tale of his single mother’s attempt to support the family on a woman’s salary was kept mercifully brief. The interview with Ivory also revealed the changes made to the script which had saved it from sentimentality: in one cut a (genuinely quite moving) subplot involving an older machinist and her shell-shocked husband was foregrounded to a much greater extent, but this was later toned down in favour of a lighter comic tone. Ivory was disappointed by this but in my view a pastel-coloured, glossy comedy ostensibly about something else, and especially one entitled We Want Sex, does not seem quite the right forum for dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder in an adequate way, and could only have been horribly sentimental.
The most successful element of the film for me was the comic treatment of casual sexism in everyday life, which was both funny and subtle: sexist assumptions by various characters were exposed in a gently humorous way without needing to be pointed out. At one point I suspected that the factory director’s über-patronising manner towards his Cambridge-educated wife (Rosamund Pike) might be verging on caricature, but my companion, who was active in the women’s liberation movement at the time, afterwards confirmed that even the most exaggerated-seeming sexist behaviour was really pretty common, while the more minor sexist assumptions simply seemed more plausible to me because they still occur with enough frequency to appear ‘normal’. In our case the film was clearly preaching to the choir, but what was impressive was the way that it consistently poked fun at sexism in a gentle enough way not to alienate the portion of its audience who might not previously have thought much about sexual politics.
An über-patronised Pike
I also quite liked the treatment of class. British films traditionally tend to portray working-class characters either in a gritty, incredibly grim ‘realist’ style – preferably in black and white to underline the relentless, grinding misery -, or in an overly cosy, idealised style which is even more patronising. Made in Dagenham tends towards the latter category, but, again, doesn’t overdo it: the working-class characters are the central focus, so they are more three-dimensional than the cartoonish bosses and politicians, and they largely seem to be getting on with normal, happy, three-dimensional lives. That is, of course, when they are not making history at trade union meetings or demanding sex outside the Houses of Parliament.
Ultimately, I thought, Made in Dagenham achieves a sensible balance between the demands of the genre and genuinely funny comedy. And perhaps most importantly, while the idea of films with a ‘message’ makes me a little bit sick in my mouth, it is surely an important story. Given that 50% of my undergraduate class once admitted to not knowing what a picket line was, and that I (a feminist and trade union member) hadn’t really been aware myself of the women machinists’ strike, it seems worthy of attention, and why not in the form of a popular film? We all know that women still don’t get paid the same as men, but what seems obvious to most people now which didn’t then (not that long ago!) was the principle that they should.
The original workers happy to be in the first franglais review critique with asterisks!
*the Underdog, if female, does not necessarily need to be working class, but in that case it seems important to have at least one character with a regional accent, but preferably not strong enough to need subtitles for a US audience, to add a certain heartwarming appeal.
**by way of example, consider Ewan McGregor in Brassed Off, the 1996 tale of a group of newly-redundant miners fighting to save their colliery band. It is a well-known fact that, in Britain, unofficial leaders of impromptu movements are always chosen for being better-looking than their peers.
In a nutshell:1968 was the year for demonstrations and social unrest. In Dagenham, the female workers of the Ford factory want sex equality! Sally Hawkins with the help of her coworkers and Bob Hoskins are leading the feminist fight! The movie makes it more fun than what it probably was. A good and smiling reminder that women’s rights are recent and more fragile than some might think.
Comme l’affiche ci-contre ne le montre pas, le titre français (et international) du dernier film de Nigel Cole est We want sex, puisque Dagenham n’évoque rien, mais alors rien du tout, à un public qui ne serait pas anglais. Et admettons-le, il est plus attirant d’aller voir un film qui vous propose des désirs érotiques, plutôt qu’une balade à Boulogne Billancourt, même pour un amateur de Renault. Ceux qui se seront laissés racoler par ce titre audacieux n’en auront pas pour leur argent mais ressortiront sans doute et malgré tout satisfaits de leur séance. Le film est charmant, entraînant, bien rythmé et l’on est heureux de voir triompher les courageuses ouvrières de Ford dans leur combat pour une égalité de traitement et de salaire.
Notons que le titre choisi pour les marchés internationaux n’est pas totalement injustifié, puisque apparemment l’anecdote reprise dans le film est historique et prouvée. Les ouvrières de la plus grande usine automobile du Royaume Uni, révoltée que pour un travail équivalent on ne les paient pas autant que leur collègues masculins, après avoir essayées en vain de négocier avec leur hiérarchie, commencent la première grève féminine (et féministe) au monde et bientôt sont suivies par toutes les ouvrières d’Angleterre. Alors qu’elles se préparent à manifester à Londres pour mobiliser le gouvernement et leurs concitoyens, elles déploient insuffisamment une grande banderole exigeant l’égalité entre les sexes … ce n’est qu’après quelques minutes et les commentaires hilares des badauds que les manifestantes comprennent qu’il manque “equality” à leur formidable “We want sex“.
Plus de justesse dans le slogan, moins de soutien chez le chaland
Méprisées par leur direction, ignorées par les syndicats, peu comprises par leurs maris et leurs collègues masculins, ces femmes n’avaient que peu d’espoirs dans leur lutte et il est impressionnant de voir à quel point leur intelligence, leur constance et leur capacité à être solidaire leur permet de déplacer des montagnes. Si le film esquisse les difficultés personnelles et professionnelles de ces courageuses ouvrières, le ton reste badin et la volonté de M. Cole est bien plus nettement de fournir au plus grand nombre un honorable divertissement que de coller à une réalité sociale. On reconnait la patte lisse et ronde du réalisateur de Calendar Girls ou Saving Grace, et ses choix esthétiques et narratifs le rapprochent plus d’Hollywood que de Ken Loach. Et c’est là que chacun décidera ce qu’il préfère, je dois admettre apprécier le désir de parler au plus grand nombre mais je regrette que l’ensemble soit si “propre”, si attendu et si les héroïnes sont attachantes, elles n’en restent pas moins assez stéréotypées.
Sally Hawkins devient la spécialiste des rôles de femmes issues de la classe ouvrière (Happy-Go-Lucky, Happy Ever Afters, An Education …) et si elle ne démérite pas dans ce film, j’en viens à me demander ce que les cinéastes britanniques lui trouvent. Son personnage, Rita O’Grady, comprend ce mélange d’enthousiasme presque naïf de l’héroïne de Mike Leigh et la capacité d’indignation qui nourrit toute bonne comédie sociale retraçant le combat de certains pour leurs droits. La tentation du mélodrame à laquelle ne succombe que très peu le réalisateur et son scénariste, Billy Ivory, est ainsi modérée par la bonne humeur batailleuse de Rita, qui trouve plus souvent qu’à son tour les mots justes pour convaincre ses camarades hésitantes ou réduire à néant les plaintes de plus en plus vocales des hommes l’entourant, dont son gentil mari (Daniel Mays). Et si l’histoire suit avec le plus d’humour possible les pas de la volontaire Mrs O’Grady, elle n’hésite pas à s’arrêter pour remarquer çà et là le très imposant machisme de la société anglaise, parfois avec subtilité comme dans les discussions entre ouvrières au début du film, le plus souvent avec une lourdeur bonhomme, notamment avec l’une des histoires parallèles, celle de la compétente femme de l’un des directeurs de l’usine, Rosamund Pike, réduite malgré ses évidentes qualités intellectuelles à n’être en dépit de ses souhaits qu’une femme au foyer.
Jamie Winstone : le stéréotype du fantasme marxiste?
Même si c’est le plus probable, j’ignore si le plus grand nombre considérera We want sex comme un film militant, ou même franchement féministe, car le point de vue de Messieurs Cole et Ivory porte bien plus sur le concept si britannique de “fairness” (équité, justice) que le droit des femmes, et c’est, selon eux, ce qui permettra aux ouvrières de convaincre le peuple anglais et le gouvernement de légiférer en leur faveur. La loi sera ratifiée en 1970 et le film affirme qu’elle donnera le coup d’envoi aux luttes pour l’égalité salariale dans le reste du monde, mes connaissances de l’histoire du droit des femmes sont lacunaires, mais je sais que la législation européenne comprend un article défendant l’égalité de salaire entre homme et femme depuis le Traité de Rome en 1957, je serais donc curieux de savoir l’influence de l’un sur le combat des autres, mais bien évidemment, il s’agit plus ici de ma propre pédanterie que d’un avis cinéphile.
Le petit paragraphe précédent pour souligner cependant que ma curiosité sur la cause féminine fut éveillée comme celle des spectateurs que j’ai pu entendre à la fin de notre ultime séance dinardaise. Le film n’apparait en conséquence ni agressif, ni particulièrement revendicatif, mais fait passer un message important auprès du plus grand nombre. Et cela, quelles que soient ses (modestes) faiblesses, est assez remarquable pour célébrer ce long métrage divertissant qui j’espère vous intéressera et vous amusera autant que nous. Ne reste plus qu’à espérer que d’autres films populaires mais à vocation politique fleuriront bientôt sur nos écrans, car je dois avouer que le manque d’entrain pour les affaires publiques de la majorité et la réflexion sur la gestion de nos sociétés réservée à une élite me désolent toujours un peu.
En résumé: Les femmes d’un village entre l’Afrique du nord et le Moyen-Orient font la grève de l’amour pour essayer de convaincre leurs maris d‘aller chercher l’eau à la source en haut de la montagne à leur place. Film un peu lent, où la caricature n’est jamais loin, qui est également drôle et souvent réjouissant. 
