I sometimes create an article which is all about my love of film, and usually of films driven by powerful female performances, often films which are obscure and fall bellow the radar of the blockbusters or usual crowd-pleasers. My natal Venus in Aquarius wouldn’t have it otherwise and I tend to fall in love with what is outside of the norm, anti-mainstream but also something which is intelligently crafted and has the potential to change my mind. This is such a post, which is a retrospective of three movies I’ve recently watched, movies which stayed with me long after the ending credits wrapped up. And the main reason I really enjoyed these movies was because of the performances of the 3 leading actresses who carried these movies and created haunting, intense and unforgettable characters. The movies I want to talk about (and maybe stir your interest in viewing them too) are Elle (2016), Maelstrom (2000) and Preparations to be together for an unknow period of time (2020).
Immediately, I want to point out some interesting astrological patterns between the 3 leading actresses. While doing some digging I found out that the French-Canadian actress Marie-Josée Croze (born 23rd February) is a Pisces Sun & a Moon in Libra conjunct Uranus, the French actress Isabelle Huppert (born 16th March) is also a Pisces Sun & a Moon in Aries conjunct Mars, while the Hungarian actress Natasa Stork (born 22nd January) is an Aquarius Sun with a natal Moon in Virgo. So already there is considerable mutable energy in the charts of these 3 actresses and it may have something to do with the choice of these roles, as the movies portray 3 women undergoing some drastic transformations of their lives. These transformations are both the result of their choices but also providence. Something happens to the characters in these movies which instigates a process of deep, self-destructive transformation that ultimately emerges as a Phoenix rebirth. What begins as sad, shocking and insane, ends in light, healing, recovery and love.
For example, the character of Marta (played by Natasa Stork) in Preparations to be together for an unknown period of time, is a woman with a successful career as a neurosurgeon who has an active life away from her home country. But a chance encounter with a man from back home, ignites a series of events which she passionately initiates. You see Marta falls in love at first sight with her stranger, and apparently this love compels her to give up everything she has built in her life this far and pursue him. And she does it with such courage it is breath-takingly insane to watch. The plot thickens, as once she arrives from the US to Budapesta and manages to track down the man of her dreams, he doesn’t seem to remember her at all. So throughout the movie, as a viewer, you are left wondering: Is she a female psychopath? A stalker who is out of her mind? Or an actual woman in love, willing to pursue her man until the end of the world? I saw her as a woman who felt blocked by the limiting emotional constraints of her life as a single neurosurgeon, and this reality was painfully aware to her. The stranger simply sparked a process of psychological reconstitution which she was already on the brink of starting. We see how Marta interacts with her working environment and how she constantly has to compete with her co-workers, we see her in empty rooms immersed in so much solitude, and at the beginning of the movie at least she seems uptight and like she has developed this armor around her body which helps her in her job but we are left wondering how she copes in her personal life.
As the movie develops, we see Marta unravel and transform from an efficient machine of a glacial beauty to a softer, emotional and deeply passionate individual. But could it be that inside, Marta was harboring a homesickness for her language, culture and city which love simply reignited. Because love is believed to be a unifying energy, it may be that Marta felt an internal split, between the demands of her high-powered job and her needs as a woman, between her cultural upbringing and the reality of her life as an immigrant in a foreign culture, which may bring her material and professional rewards but nothing much else. Could it be that love was a catalyst that found a way to reunite Marta with her emotions, her memories and heritage? And what initially looks like a deeply self-destructive process, may very well be a readjustment of her values, replacing worldly success for something infinitely more valuable, a prioritization of her inner life and her emotions? The movie keeps playing with these images of Marta as a successful expat and neurosurgeon versus Marta as a woman consumed by love and readjusting to living in her natal city, and asks us to consider whether as a modern woman you can have them both?
In the case of the character played by Isabelle Huppert in the movie Elle, the story is slightly different. The movies pulls the viewer straight into a shocking scene in which Isabelle’s character, Michele is raped in her own home by a masked intruder. What happens afterwards is a powerhouse of actions which you have rarely see on screen and lead by a woman. Michele picks herself up, takes a bath, cries in anger and then begins to investigate who her assailant may be and plots to revenge herself. You see Michele is not the usual middle-aged woman who can indulge in her victimhood, she is a woman wrapped up in deadlines, the CEO of gaming company who constantly deals with harassment and abuse in her line of work and has developed a relative thick skin. But that doesn’t mean she has lost the fire in her heart. Michelle has to lead over a group of outspoken and brash employees who are mostly men and much younger than her. The movie shows the many weird and funny quips which describe her relationship to her employees and moreover, there is considerable sexual tension between her and another rather handsome employee who quickly becomes the prime suspect due to the misogynistic nature of the feminine portrayals he openly enjoys in the video games that the company delivers. But the perpetrator is much worse than imagined and in a genial plot twist, we see how Michelle manages to make him obsessed with her before she (spoiler) destroys him.
The movie is surprisingly unsentimental about any of the events that happen to Michelle, as she is not someone to be stopped once you messed with her. And this ruthlessness is formidable and inspiring to watch, even becoming slightly comical at times to watch. Whatever problems appear in her life, Michelle gets up and deals with them even if she ends up making a decision that is highly controversial. She is also trying to parent her son and deal with her vulnerable ex-husband, and makes time for her loyal friend throughout the entire madness of this story. But I don’t want to give too much of the movie so as not to spoil the fun of watching it, but it is that kind of a experience that takes the viewer from shock to shock and it is actually quite funny in parts, due to the brilliant acting throughout. Because Isabelle Huppert is such a talented actress she is able to convey such mixed emotions at a glance, and gets us to think deeply about what power and solitude can do to someone’s mind; and without sounding cold-hearted it also gives the viewer a chance to explore that old cliché “if a good looking, desirable man hits on you it’s called flirting, but if he is ugly & undesirable, it’s called abuse”.
And I saved the best for last, because out of all 3 movies, Maelstrom is probably my favorite one. The movie literally begins with a talking fish (!) and continue as some sort of modern Greek tragedy. I was genuinely surprised to see that it was directed by Denis Villeneuve, who later became famous for shooting Arrival, Dune and Blade Runner 2049 (aka some of my favorite films in the last decade). You can say what you want about his movies, but they are captivating and visually stunning. On a smaller scale, the same can be said about Maelstrom, a movie about the transformation of woman’s life after she terminates a pregnancy and has a near-death event. The movie is lead by the beautiful Marie Josee Croze, who has some of the most otherworldly-blue eyes I have seen on camera, and the cinematography emphasizes this and her inner tumult and sadness, which is mostly conveyed through her eyes.
Her character, the weirdly named Bibiane Champagne, moves from a need to punish and destroy herself to creating an event that riddles her with even more guilt, but paradoxically the darkness she falls into throughout the movie, leads her to love and finding a way to keep her heart opened. In spite of the darker themes, the movie is also surprisingly funny and unapologetic. It’s again one of those cinematic experiences that keeps you guessing because you find it hard to predict what comes next in Bibiane’s life. Just when everything seems bleaker and worse than ever for her, suddenly a chance encounter changes everything for the better and healing begins and her life seems to regain its balance. Just like the calm weather after a storm or a maelstrom to be more precise 🙂
I think that I’ll end this article here and allow you the pleasure of tracking these movies down and seeing them on your own. Feel free to come back here and comment on what you thought of the stories and the female-led performances.
With cosmic love,
Lexi
spiritualsocial.wordpress.com 