She Must Be Seeing Things

Vivacious blonde Jo (Weaver) is making a film about Catalina, a 17th century woman forced to live her life as a man. Jo's lover Agatha (Dabney), suffering a crisis when she reads Jo's diary detailing previous affairs with men, takes to spying on Jo and imagining her in compromising situations with male members of the film crew. Meanwhile, Catalina's experiences in Jo's film mirror Agatha's inner turmoil. The vague cross-cutting between what Agatha sees and what she imagines becomes intriguing, as does Catalina's tragic story, but there's a disconcerting subtext. Agatha's insecurity manifests itself as penis envy - a too simplistic response to a complex situation which, coupled with McLaughlin's disruptive technique of having her characters speak to camera whenever they're alone, sets a slightly patronising tone. On the other hand, the sex scenes are refreshingly frank and often funny.