Nappily Ever After

[osprey_archer]

I loved Haifaa al-Mansour’s debut film Wadjda, so I’ve been meaning to watch Nappily Ever After since it first appeared on Netflix in September, but what with one thing and another I didn’t manage it till this month.

It’s a well-made movie, and it’s nice to see a movie with a majority black cast - and making the heroine black gives new life to the somewhat tired storyline of “uptight career woman learns to let her hair down and finds love and probably quits her high-powered job.” The cultural and political history of black hair gives “letting her hair down” new meaning and resonance, for instance. (I really liked the way the movie was organized by different hairdos - almost like chapter breaks.)

But I’m probably never going to really love any iteration of that basic storyline, unless maybe someone did “uptight career woman finds love with someone who loves her in all her uptight glory.” Which is not so much an iteration as a totally different story.

Also, it occurs to me that that story is the Netflix film Like Father (although the love in that version is platonic). So the trail has been blazed! More versions can follow!

Comments

[asakiyume]

Wow, you know, I hadn't put together that this director was the same one who did Wadjda. That was **such** a beautiful film.

Still, this one was good for all the reasons you give, and you know I agree with you about the uptight career woman finds love with someone who loves her in all her uptight glory" storyline.

[osprey_archer]

Yeah, Wadjda was great. I wonder if she'll make any more films set in Saudi Arabia? Not that she has to, but the fact that she knows the country so intimately - and most people who make films that involve Saudi Arabia don't know it that well at all - there's a lot of untapped potential there.

[carmarthen]

Man, I would be super into a romance between two uptight career people who are super passionate about their work and that's one of the things they like about each other and they're okay with their work-relationship balance.

[osprey_archer]

I feel like this is one of those movies that you're more likely to get if you're watching something that isn't billed as a romance. Like, they're both super intense about their monster-hunting business or something.

[carmarthen]

Probably, but I kind of want something less fantastical about how career-driven people can navigate romance without becoming undriven.

[silverusagi]

Random: I just saw this on twitter about a silent film female director, and thought of you.

[osprey_archer]

I've become a sort of clearinghouse for random facts about female directors and I kind of love it.