What if I had been the hero? : investigating women's cinema /

This is an amazingly comprehensive and much-needed book. Thornham (Univ. of Sussex, UK) synthesizes a dazzlingly wide range of films and a variety of theoretical and historical approaches, and she links the entire project to the way that women are portrayed in the cinema, and how women construct images of themselves. Copiously illustrated, the book concentrates on how women have created films to tell their own stories, in direct opposition to the (still) male-dominated mainstream cinema, which continues to marginalize women's narratives to focus on masculine protagonists. Thornham is never didactic in her writing; she presents a wide array of films by filmmakers from all over the world--an exciting alternative to conventional Hollywood filmmaking. The films she discusses include such classics as Barbara Loden's Wanda, Sarah Polley's Away from Her, and Catherine Breillat's Romance, to cite just three of many, and she examines them all in knowing detail. This is a superb book, particularly for those interested in women in film; it is concise, compelling, and absolutely necessary. Summing Up: Essential. All readers. G. A. Foster University of Nebraska--Lincoln