Certain Women

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From her terrific debut feature, River of Grass (1994), through Wendy and Lucy (2008) and all the way to her most recent film, First Cow (2019), Kelly Reichardt has brought us incomplete, quietly suffering characters trying to feel their way into the change they may or may not attain.

It is not different in Certain Women (2016), which explores intimate lives and small everyday struggles. Adapted from the short stories ‘Native Sandstone’, ‘Travis B.’ and ‘Tome’ from the collection Half in Love and Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It (2009), by Maile Meloy, the film is divided into three loosely interconnected episodes, with a focus on working women and their relationships: Laura (Laura Dern) is a lawyer wrangling a volatile client; Gina (Michelle Williams) is a successful entrepreneur struggling to find balance within her family; and Jamie, a Native American rancher (Lily Gladstone) is battling isolation and infatuation with her teacher, Beth Travis (Kristen Stewart).

Reichardt’s fondness for her flawed characters, her minimalist cinematic style, and her subtle sense of humour inspire us to be generous to ourselves and others, to pay attention to trivial beautiful things, and to warmly embrace uncertain futures. It seems the perfect fit for our December Book to Film Club, the last meeting this year!

"These subtle and intimate small-town stories starring Michelle Williams and Kristen Stewart add up to an unassuming masterpiece" - Wendy Ide, The Guardian

This film is F-Rated. The F-Rating is applied to all films which are directed by women and/or written by women. Find out more about F-Rating.

Book to Film Club: Thursday 16 December, 7.30pm

Join us to see film adaptations of inspirational books and discuss your opinions in a friendly and open discussion forum after the screenings. You can still come along to enjoy the films and the group without having read the books in advance.

This is our final Book to Film Club in the series, which has been funded by the BFI's Culture Recovery Fund, and hosted by Natalia Christofoletti Barrenha. She will continue to work with the Electric Palace as one of our guest film programmers during 2022.

This film is based on 'Native Sandstone', 'Travis, B.' and 'Tome' - three short stories from Maile Meloy's collections Half in Love and Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It.

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