An Odd Threesome: The Eye, Over Her Dead Body, and Persepolis

The Eye (2008, David Moreau): While the film is about as memorable as a dirty, wet piece of cardboard on the sidewalk, Jessica Alba’s character, Sydney Wells, does act as a strong female protagonist. She’s independent, saves a few men and women from utter death, and uses her instinctive feminine voice to guide her decisions. But her character isn’t fleshed out well enough to garner any sort of a feminine stance. She’s just…nothing. Perhaps if Alba were a more capable performer, the film and its central character could be elevated a little farther up from the filthy ground.



Over Her Dead Body (2008, Jeff Lowell): This film is honestly a lot smarter than it has any right to be. It teeters on the edge of offensiveness like a mini-skirt in a Catholic church yet never crosses that forbidden line. Though in its most basic sense the film is a catfight between two women over a man, I rarely felt my feminist “no-no” button being pushed because they don’t play dirty, meaning they don’t (or rarely) make fun of the stereotypes women are socially ordained to bestow upon one another in films, i.e., fat jokes, cosmetic jokes, clothes jokes. They’re earnestly fighting over the love of the same man and who wouldn’t adore a surly, bitter Paul Rudd? Eva Longoria is a delightful bitch without too much of a sting and cinema newcomer Lake Bell is charming and sprightly. I would never call Over her Dead Body a good movie, but I certainly didn’t want to peel my eyes out layer by layer while watching it either.



Persepolis (2007, Marjane Satrapi & Vincent Paronnaud): Phew, a good movie! A really good one! This is technically a 2007 release, but it didn’t debut in Chicago until the middle of January.

Marjane Satrapi delivers a one-two punch to misogynists, bigots, warmongers, and the simple minded sheep who follow in their footsteps. It’s very refreshing to witness a female main character, animated or not, who is so sure and righteous of her beliefs and actually acts upon them. She leaves little doubt to where she received her fine moral education - she learned how to respect her womanhood from her mother and grandmother and her faithful father pointed her in the right philosophical direction. The film is also refreshing because it subverts the notion of the “coming of age” tale which has been told too many times to count in American cinema. Marjane doesn’t really sweat the small stuff like the teenagers do in American films so much as she takes it all in her stride to make herself a better, more well-rounded gal. She handles the repression of her rights in Iran in the same way she handles the divorce of her first husband - like the warrior she really is. It’s terrible when it happens, but why dwell on it when you could be fighting your next battle? Marjane is fierce and fiercely intelligent and we need more characters like her in our cinematic culture.