Written and directed by Barbara Loden. Also, starring Barbara Loden as the title character.
“I've been like that myself. I came from a rural region, where people have a hard time. They don't have time for wittily observing the things around them. They're not concerned about anything more than existing from day to day.” -Barbara Loden quoted in the NY Times in 1971
Holy shit! I love it. All the thumbs up.
This was my first viewing of this film. I’m not sure if I would have been ready for this film in my twenties.
The film is set in dreary Pennsylvania coal country. Wanda is a poor, directionless, aging beauty who lets herself be used and abused by men. When her husband seeks a divorce because she has neglected both the marriage and the children, she does not disagree. With no one left to turn to for support, she shacks up with a string of men eventually getting swept up with a bank robber. Wanda is not an exciting character but she is a complex character. For all that we don’t understand about her and her motivations, we are asked to question how it is that she came to be. The film is an intimate portrayal of a woman stranded at the margins - just trying to exist.