The 1970 title from writer/director Barbara Loden, who also stars in the film, will screen at 13:30, Saturday, May 20th at the Irish Film Institute, Temple Bar, Dublin.
The panel discussion to follow will analyse ‘Wanda’ for its merit as a flagship feminist work, the role of passivity in the film and its reception in the US and Europe.
The Irish Times film critic Tara Brady will join Dr. Susan Liddy of the University of Limerick, Karla Healion, Director of Dublin Feminist Film Festival and IFI’s Alice Butler.
Despite ‘Wanda’ achieving the award for Best Foreign Film at Venice in addition to the support of Isabelle Huppert and Marguerite Duras, it did not attain the same success in the US.
Synopsis
In the coal mining region of Pennsylvania, Wanda Goronski is constantly drinking to shut out the problems in her life. Having deserted her husband and infant children, Wanda sleeps on her sister's couch - when she isn't sleeping with the latest man who bought her a drink - and is unemployed with no long term job prospect. Her drinking and her life in combination have made her an emotionless woman. Her life changes when she meets Norman Dennis in a bar.
She initially believes he's the bartender, but in reality he's a petty criminal who just held up the bar in question. Even after she learns Mr. Dennis' occupation and despite he treating her poorly, she willingly goes along with him and his petty crimes as a way to get through life. Mr. Dennis, on the other hand, sees her as a conduit to bigger and better things. Although things don't turn out quite the way either of the two envision, Wanda does at least begin to feel once again.
