ANTONIA'S LINE
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1996 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule: This is a film with a lot going for
it but which is still hard to like because at core
it is so hypocritical, both in its story and the
way the distribution has been handled. This is a
sweeping film about four generations of women on a
communal farm overcoming obstacles put in their
path by sexist men. Rating: 0 (-4 to +4). Some
spoilers in the review.
According to VARIETY, when ANTONIA'S LINE was premiered at Cannes, "only women buyers and press were allowed into the first screening. Even the film's male producers were excluded from the good- humored solidarity screening." (Please don't confuse this policy with sexism. This is, of course, a blow for equality of the sexes and should in no way been seen as justifying anyone else's policy of discrimination by sex.) Indeed, ANTONIA'S LINE is a sometimes good-natured, often very angry story looking at four generations of women running a sort of communal farm in what is probably Holland or Belgium. As the film opens Antonia (Willeke Van Ammelrooy) is an old woman is an old woman who is still apparently healthy but knows that this is her final day alive. In flashback she remembers the preceding forty or fifty years. The story picks up after World War II when Antonia returns to this unnamed village, the site of her youth. With her she brings with her teenage daughter Danielle (Els Dottermans). Together they start to run a farm. Sebastian, the farmer who runs a neighboring farm expects he will acquire the two ladies in a manner not unlike the way he acquires cattle. In fact, like cattle is how he and his sons treat his own homely daughter Deedee (Marina De Graaf), showing her off in the local pub by holding up her breasts to accentuate them. But when Deedee's own brother rapes her, it is the Antonia's farm that acquires Deedee. And so begins the communal farm that takes on all comers willing to work. The farm is, of course successful and never has any agricultural problems. The only problems we see come from Sebastian's sons. But that is only to be expected because men will be men. Just made that way, I guess. Not that all men in the village are bad by any means, but when there is trouble it is generally caused by a man. One is given the impression that if there were no men around everything would just go swimmingly.
Danielle decides to have a daughter and has a friend arrange a one-night stand with a hunk in a local town. (Please don't confuse this with the way men use women as sex objects! This is just an example of what an unfeeling society forces a woman to do if she wants to have a man's child but then never see the man again.) The product of this union and enlightened child-rearing techniques is a child who is both a brilliant mathematician and a composer of music. There are more problems (including another rape) to come. But through it all tolerance and enlightened thinking are more than a match for any problem that arises. Before we are done there are four generations of women on the successful farm.
Antonias Line March 3, 1996 Page2
The makeup design by Jan Sewell is terrific. Antonia ages forty or fifty years in the course of the film and yet one never doubts that she is the age she is playing at the moment. The same goes for other women in the film. I would be very curious to the actual age of the various actresses. I suspect they must be young because it is easier to make a young person look old than an old person look young. The acting must be good because it takes more than makeup to make these people look the right age. The casting is also very good with people who look like people you might find in such a town.
This is a film that I tried very hard to like but there is just too much sanctimony here. This is a film with strong virtues, but at heart there is also a lot of sexism here. It is really hard to respect a film that condemns sexism on one hand while practicing it on the other. I guess on balance I would give it a 0 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
mark.leeper@att.com
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