Film & TV Lunch Club: March 2020 - Magnificent Women

Lady Bird, The Wife, Birdbox + bonus music documentary

Mar 01, 2020

The titles to watch for discussion of this month’s theme of ‘Magnificent Women’ in order to mark International Women’s Day are listed below. You can watch just one or all of them (as well as supplementing with your own TV and film choices if you wish – see the list of suggestions below).

🎞 March Selection 🎞

The Wife | Official Trailer | Sony Pictures Classics

1. Lady Bird (2017; Dir: Greta Gerwig)

Drama: In 2002, an artistically inclined seventeen-year-old girl comes of age in Sacramento, California. Available on Netflix.

2. The Wife (2017; Dir: Björn L Runge)

Drama: A wife questions her life choices as she travels to Stockholm to see her husband receive the Nobel Prize for Literature. On Netflix.

3. Birdbox (2018; Dir: Susanne Bier)

Drama/horror/sci fi: Five years after an ominous unseen presence drives most of society to suicide, a mother and her two children make a desperate bid to reach safety.

4. Music documentary – your choice of four! Documentaries: For our third choice, you have a choice of four films and four artists:

- Gaga: Five Foot Two – available on Netflix

- Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé – available on Netflix

- Miss Americana (Taylor Swift) – available on Netflix

- Whitney (Houston) – available on Channel 4/4oD

🎬 Optional Extras 🎬

Other notable films/TV shows suggested for the theme:

Three Billboards - A mother personally challenges the local authorities to solve her daughter's murder when they fail to catch the culprit.
The Good Wife - Alicia has been a good wife to her husband, a former state's attorney. After a very humiliating sex and corruption scandal, he is behind bars. She must now provide for her family and returns to work as a litigator in a law firm.
Captain Marvel - Carol Danvers becomes one of the universe's most powerful heroes when Earth is caught in the middle of a galactic war between two alien races.
Brave - Determined to make her own path in life, Princess Merida (Kelly Macdonald) defies a custom that brings chaos to her kingdom. Granted one wish, Merida must rely on her bravery and her archery skills to undo a beastly curse.
Erin Brokovich - An unemployed single mother becomes a legal assistant and almost single-handedly brings down a California power company accused of polluting a city's water supply. Watch on Netflix.
The Favourite - In early 18th century England, a frail Queen Anne occupies the throne and her close friend, Lady Sarah, governs the country in her stead. When a new servant, Abigail, arrives, her charm endears her to Sarah..
Hustlers – Inspired by the viral New York Magazine article, Hustlers follows a crew of savvy former strip club employees who band together to turn the tables on their Wall Street clients.
Queen of Katwe - A Ugandan girl sees her world rapidly change after being introduced to the game of chess.
Changeling - Grief-stricken mother Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie) takes on the L.A.P.D. to her own detriment when it tries to pass off an obvious impostor as her missing child.
Unbelievable - Based on the true story of Marie, a teenager who was charged with lying about having been raped, and the two female detectives who followed the path to the truth. Mini series on Netflix.
Black Book - In the Nazi-occupied Netherlands during World War II, a Jewish singer infiltrates the regional Gestapo headquarters for the Dutch resistance.
Hidden Figures - The story of a team of female African-American mathematicians who served a vital role in NASA during the early years of the U.S. space program.
The Post - A cover-up that spanned four U.S. Presidents pushed the country's first female newspaper publisher and a hard-driving editor to join an unprecedented battle between the press and the government.
Mary Queen of Scots - Mary Stuart's attempt to overthrow her cousin Elizabeth I, Queen of England, finds her condemned to years of imprisonment before facing execution.
Little Women – Jo March reflects back and forth on her life, telling the beloved story of the March sisters - four young women each determined to live life on their own terms.
Lionheart - Running a company can be challenging, especially if you are a female in a male-dominated industry. Looking to prove her worth, Adaeze steps up to the challenge when her father is forced to take a step back due to health issues.
Judy - Legendary performer Judy Garland (Renée Zellweger) arrives in London in the winter of 1968 to perform a series of sold-out concerts.
A Star is Born - A film star helps a young singer and actress find fame, even as age and alcoholism send his own career on a downward spiral.

📽 At the Movies 📽

Films out, or coming soon, at the cinema, or as Americans say, ‘in theatres’, which fit this theme are:

Military Wives - With their partners away serving in Afghanistan, a group of women on the home front form a choir and quickly find themselves at the center of a media sensation and global movement.
Emma - In 1800s England, a well-meaning but selfish young woman meddles in the love lives of her friends.
A Quiet Place II - Following the events at home, the Abbott family now face the terrors of the outside world. Forced to venture into the unknown, they realize the creatures that hunt by sound are not the only threats lurking beyond the sand path.
Mulan - A young Chinese maiden disguises herself as a male warrior in order to save her father. A live-action feature film based on Disney's 'Mulan.'
Radioactive - A story of the scientific and romantic passions of Marie Sklodowska-Curie (Polish scientist) and Pierre Curie, and the reverberation of their discoveries throughout the 20th century.