Take It Like a Man, Ma'am

An entertaining commercial feature arising from certain preoccupations within the women's movement, this represents a reasonably successful attempt to popularise aspects of feminist theory and film-making practice: respectively, the potential relationship between the movement and the older woman, and the realisation of an all-female production. The film traces the gradual coming-to-consciousness of a 50-year-old housewife, diagnosed as menopausal and prescribed tranquillisers and a little dog to look after. But the basis of its broad appeal is a long dream sequence which is a devastatingly accurate and hilarious depiction of role reversal. It's the seemingly simple strategy of this section which proves to be the film's real strength.