MEN TAKING CREDIT

The last two posts were about films recognizing bright women. And today’s post completes the category. And Happy Mother’s Day!

It’s no secret that in many cases, famous and otherwise, men have taken credit for the work done by women. Mostly they got away with it. But the movies have taken some of these guys to task, and given credit where it is due. 

A recent example is  Collette (2018). Keira Knightley plays the famous writer, whose popular work was claimed by her husband Willy for many years. While it is true that Willy pushed Collette to write novels about the life of Claudine, it is also true that he took credit for most of them, inserting his own byline. The books were wildly popular in France. They even inspired products, such as perfume, based on the stories. Befriended by Mathilde de Mornay (Denise Gough), a very modern woman of any time, Collette gradually escaped her husband’s dominance and became her own artist.  Dominic West is just right as the controlling husband and Miss Knightley lights up the screen.

Another fairly recent example is the aptly named Big Eyes (2014). Margaret Keane was an outstanding pop artist, the inventor of the paintings in the 60's featuring children with abnormally large eyes. Amy Adams plays the artist and the eternally creepy Christoph Waitz appears as her husband Walter. He convinces her to do the painting and let him do the selling (and taking the credit). But she eventually tires of being the doormat, escapes his dominance, sues to get proper credit and carries the day. 

Hidden Figures (2016) brings to light the untold contribution of a group of mathematicians who were principally responsible for NASA’s early space flights. These incredibly smart and dedicated workers were women and they were black! Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monae portray these unsung heroes. Kevin Costner is quite effective as the project head whose epiphany releases the women from ridiculous restrictions. Kirsten Dunst has a nice turn as the highly prejudiced supervisor. The conditions they were originally required to work under, and the work they did, make for fine cinematic drama. The NASA bigwigs blithely took credit for everything that went right until a book by Margot Shetterly in 2010 told the story. A highlight of the film is the installation of a gigantic new computer which none of the men can even start up. The women figure it out!

Another recent entry is The Wife (2017) in which The Husband (Jonathan Pryce) receives the Nobel Prize for Literature. Glenn Close is superb in the title role. As the film unwinds it becomes increasingly clear that the wrong spouse got the Nobel. The wife is the actual writer of a slew of outstanding novels, though most people think of her as only the supporter of the genius. 

And guess what? I have not discovered a single film where a woman took credit for the work of a man!

All of the movies in this article are available on DVD. All are for grown-ups.