THELMA AND LOUISE
US, 1991, 138 minutes, Colour.
Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis, Harvey Keitel, Christopher Mc Donald, Michael Madsen, Brad Pitt.
Directed by Ridley Scott.
Thelma and Louise was one of the most talked about films of 1991. Thelma and Louise are good friends who go off for a holiday weekend. It turns into a journey through the West with the police chasing them. There has been an attempted rape and a shooting. But the women cannot trust the police, feel that they won't be believed. So, they go on the road, as so many men have gone before, as fugitives, gaining notoriety and, finally, faced with a violent showdown. Thelma and Louise find themselves in this vanishing West. But it is not so easy for women as it is for men. In fact, men have set western society's agenda. They impose the expectations, have the structures and the law on their side. Women assert themselves - and the film is an allegory of what happens.
Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon play Thelma and Louise very well. They are sisters, not buddies. The movie is also an allegory of the relationships between men and women in 20th century American society. Most of the men are caricatured or, deservedly, lampooned. The ending was considered controversial. Butch and Sundance went out in a blaze of glory - but what can women do in 1991? It should be added that there is a great deal of humour in this complex film, one that needs discussing.
The film was written by first-time writer Callie Khouri. It was directed by Englishman Ridley Scott (Duellists, Alien, Blade Runner, Legend, Someone to Watch Over Me, Black Rain).
1.The film's acclaim, considered a landmark women's film? Its use of traditional American genres and showing women within these genres?
2.The strength of the cast, the writer and the director?
3.The backgrounds of Arkansas and Oklahoma, New Mexico and the vanishing West? The traditional West - photographed beautifully - but with an ominous sense? The background of homes, police stations, the American highways, towns, motels?
4.The striking musical score and its moods? The West, road films?
5.The buddy genre and its being transformed into the Sister genre? The tradition of the road and fugitives? Robberies? The tradition of the westerns and the law? Men in this tradition? Women? Parallels and differences? Audience sympathy and responses?
6.The credibility of the plot - establishing Thelma and Louise as personalities? Their situations? Presentation of the men? The action as larger than life - yet with the core of credibility?
7.The portrait of men and women, equality and dominance? Men and their superiority, assumptions, smugness? The reaction of women? The role of the law? Domestic domination? Sexual encounters and domination, violence and rape? Violent deaths? The film as contributing to changing attitudes?
8.The pessimism of the plot, the pursuit of Thelma and Louise, their option to die? A '90s allegorical ending for a film about women?
9.The sketch of Thelma at home, Darrell's criticism of her shouting, the breakfast, the marriage and the four years' courtship? Her manner, eating, the fridge? Her fear of telling Darrell? The pressure from Louise? Leaving a note and a microwaveable meal? Wanting her vacation, packing, mess and all, the number of suitcases? Her friendship with Louise - and the exhilaration of going?
10.The contrast with Louise at the diner, her work, pleasant, talking to people, smoking the cigarette? Her neat packing, leaving the house in an orderly way? Her influence on Thelma and the pressure? The audience not knowing her past, but knowing something was amiss? The tension of her relationship with Jim?
11.On the road, their plans, the fishing, the car, Thelma wanting to stop, going to the diner, enjoying the drink, Harlan and his approach, Thelma's vigorous dancing, excitement? Louise's more restrained response? Thelma and Harlan's approaches, the married man, pursuing her, pressure, in the car-park, the attempted rape? Louise and her stance, the gun, her shooting Harlan? The reason, motivation, their reaction? Audience reaction - sympathy, surprise, revulsion?
12.Facing the dilemma and deciding to act? Getting in the car and driving? Not trusting the police? Not trusting the law? Women in rape situations, Thelma interpreted as flirting and leading Harlan on, their not being believed? The emotional reactions of each? Sharing the experiences, the decisions, the angers? Going to the motel, wanting to be safe? Thelma at the swimming pool? Louise thinking things through? The phone calls?
13.The plan, the contact with Jimmy, his bringing the money? Their driving to Oklahoma City, the encounter with the young man on the road? His story, their being persuaded to take him? Thelma believing him? The exhilaration of the ride? Leaving him, his being drenched in the rain? Thelma taking him in? Jimmy and his arrival with the money? Louise and Jimmy and the motel encounter, the tenderness, his offering the ring, their talking the truth? The possibility of a relationship - but the difficulty of what Louise had done and how she was handling the situation? Thelma and J.D. and their encounter, sex, the morning after? Thelma leaving the money - the loss and the angers?
14.The sketch of J.D., on the road, peddling his good looks, his story about study, getting the lifts? His story about robbing the store and his spiel? The sexual encounter with Thelma? His being arrested, the interrogation, his taunting of Darrell?
15.The police, Harvey Keitel as the main sympathetic man in the film? His concern about the two? His boss and the authoritarian approach? Speculation, his empathy? The phone calls and Thelma contacting Darrell? Darrell's shock and reaction? Louise and her more shrewd phone calls? The police, surveillance, information? Their watching the TV weepy - and Darrell wanting to watch the sport? Darrell giving himself away on the phone? The interrogation of J.D? The decisions to pursue the women?
16.The pressures on the women, Thelma and her enjoying robbing the store and using J.D's spiel? The driving to the border, the phone calls, Louise's serious approach? The encounter with the Highway Patrolman, their behaviour with him, pulling the gun, shooting the radio, tying him up and putting him in the back of the car? Continually passing the truckie, his obscene gestures? The finale - their confronting him, exploding his truck? The pressure of men in the old West and the effect on the women?
17.The transformation of Thelma and of Louise? Evading the police, the cars and the helicopter, the sudden coming to the cliff - and the possibility of going off and over the edge? The siege? Their reflection on what had happened to them, their decisions and motivation, going out in the blaze of glory? The final freeze frame? Not seeing the reality of their bodies and the smashed car?
18.The background of the men, Jim and his sympathy? The sympathetic policeman? The contrast with Darrell and his vanity, his car number-plate, his chain? His preening himself? His behaviour at home, the antagonism towards J.D? J.D. and his arrogant self-confidence? The police, the law, violence? Harlan and his presumptions, sexuality and violence? The obscene truckie?
19.A film of the '90s - in the Hollywood tradition, conventions? A film about women - and secondarily about men?
