Anastasia Mikova and Yann Arthus-Bertrand offer with their film Woman the opportunity for thousands of women to express themselves about their femininity. Their joys, their sorrows, their traumas, and many other topics are addressed without taboo in this powerful work.
A black background. That’s the setting of the film Woman. A black background in front of which two thousand women speak directly to the camera. This is the concept of the new film by Anastasia Mikova and Yann Arthus-Bertrand. They reuse the method from Human (2015), the duo’s previous film in which the Ukrainian was the first assistant director to the French director. After addressing the human condition, they now focus on the condition of women worldwide. Through these testimonies collected in about fifty countries, a female and feminist panel is represented.
Strong contributions on diverse and varied subjects: inequalities, physical and psychological violence, slavery but also beauty, menstruation, and sexuality. In front of the camera, tongues are loosened. A particularly striking testimony, among many others, is that of a young Irish woman who claims to have never had an abortion before pausing, overwhelmed by emotion, to retract and explain how her abortion was arranged.
Without taboo, without judgment, these subjects unfold before the camera for a platform and a wake-up call. These women express themselves and, by doing so, give a voice to those who have none, in touching, funny, heartbreaking, moving, beautiful, and sad portraits.
Paul Guianvarc’h
