I’m Your Woman is a gripping stunner, currently available on Amazon Prime. Is there anything Rachel Brosnahan cannot do onscreen? The star of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel anchors a 70s’ set thriller that finds her husband on the wrong side of the law and her and her young child having to pay for it.
The film, from writer-director Julia Hart (co-written by Jordan Horowitz), finds Jean (Brosnahan) living a pretty nice life as the Mrs. to a Mr. who is a thief and a rather good one at that. The problem comes when Eddie (Bill Heck) goes against his bosses and criminal infighting ensues. Cal (Arinzé Kene) shows up out of the blue and informs Jean that her husband sent him to grab her, the baby, and to hastily leave their home because it is no longer safe.
Jean goes from comfortable to chaos on a dime. You know what sets Rachel Brosnahan apart—movie doesn’t work nearly as riveting without her. Her actor’s toolbox gets a workout. Let’s put it this way, I kept having to remind myself that Jean is played by the same actress who couldn’t be more Marvelous as Mrs. Maisel.
Sure, her hair is blonde versus brunette, but there’s so much more at work here than the superficial. Every inch of her soul is vested in this part. The actress is chillingly commanding while simultaneously portraying Jean as vulnerable and, ultimately, venerable. So much rides on the titular character. The entire thing doesn’t work without Brosnahan and what she delivers.
Hart does something extraordinary and it proves to be a powerful decision. The writer (and director) laid out scenes with much of the violence that spurs the bone-shaking fear occurring out of the field of vision. We never see what Eddie does… we just hear about it.
For example, there is a bloody, ultra-violent shootout at an underground club in New York City. Hart keeps her camera on Jean and in the process the actress shows us why she is so incredibly special. There is utter chaos going on all around her—from gunshots to people screaming and the sound of crowds manically dispersing. Brosnahan expresses so much with just her eyes. There is terror that strikes at the very core of our entire existence, all solely gleaned from a close-up on a single character.
Along the way, Cal is simultaneously her savior and a complete and utter secret. Kene strikes some chords that are so equally sensitive and serrated that it had to be the most challenging of needles to thread. Joining him in that department is his onscreen wife, Teri (Marsha Stephanie Blake). This is a couple who were in “the life” and walked away. They were “allowed” to do so provided they help Jean should it ever be needed.
Hart has allowed her audience to envision the horrors and the violence of the world that Jean and Eddie make their home in, without ever showing it until it is literally in our face. They live in a world where the niceties of life come at a cost—one that involves a knock on your door and having it all gone in an instant.
The production design is nothing short of a movie miracle. As a young child of the 70s, I felt on several occasions that I have been in that room. It not only feels like the crime dramas of the era from Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola that have become indelible in the American cinema psyche, but almost serves as a spin-off. One can tell that Hart was inspired by those classic 70s crime flicks, but also sought to have the camera stay with the wives other than their token “relationship” scenes.
Another facet that I’m Your Woman has going for it is that its conclusion is never a given. It keeps you guessing until the final frame and then even after that, there are more questions than answers. That’s OK. Cinema is an art form that can leave its audience to draw its own conclusions as to what exactly comes next to our protagonists.
All we know is that we care deeply for them and desperately want them to not only find safety, but a way of life that is as far from the gritty and bloody violence world from which they came.
Director Hart has crafted a film that not only tributes those classic 70s crime films but blazes a path all its own. This is firmly a film of the 2020s and as such there are some aspects that might not have been present during the Me decade of the 70s. We have strong women who fend for themselves and don’t need their man to come and rescue them. She is no fair maiden. This is a woman who keenly knows that if she doesn’t take control of this situation it will not only be the end of her life, but every single person she cares about.
Grade: A