My Brilliant Career
I have to thank Elizabeth for this one. I wouldn’t have heard of it if not for her. It’s somewhat obscure, but when I read the description, I decided it was a must-watch at some point. And when I saw it available in my new library’s catalog, I subsequently decided it was must-watch-immediately.
Sybylla is an independent young woman who wants to be a writer and performer. Her parents want her to conform to more “traditional” notions of womanhood (i.e., wife and mother); when she won’t cooperate, they tell her they can’t afford to keep her in the home. They send her to live with her grandmother, hoping she’ll refine her ways.
She doesn’t, despite her grandmother trying to tell her how important it is that she marry in order to be acceptable. She’s courted by two men and does fall deeply in love with one of them, Harry, who is extremely wealthy. They begin what looks like the arc of a traditional romance, and upon his proposal, she tells him she wants to wait for two years while she finds herself.
During those two years, she has to work as a governess for a family to whom her father owes money. The kids she teaches are unruly, but she eventually teaches them to read. At the end of the term, she goes back to her home. Harry finds her and re-proposes, but to my delight (and the delight of all the other Single at Hearts, not to mention many reviewers), she wants to put that energy toward her novel, which she finishes and deems My Brilliant Career.
Obviously, this is a pro-single picture. She rejects her suitors despite the matrimaniacal pressure coming at her and prevails. It only saddens me that the actress, Judy Davis (who was lauded for her performance) didn’t like the character. Was it her independent streak? Her rebelliousness? Davis married young, so perhaps it was difficult for her to play a character whose values conflicted with her.
At any rate, I enjoyed Davis’s performance, and I enjoyed the film.
Sybylla is an independent young woman who wants to be a writer and performer. Her parents want her to conform to more “traditional” notions of womanhood (i.e., wife and mother); when she won’t cooperate, they tell her they can’t afford to keep her in the home. They send her to live with her grandmother, hoping she’ll refine her ways.
She doesn’t, despite her grandmother trying to tell her how important it is that she marry in order to be acceptable. She’s courted by two men and does fall deeply in love with one of them, Harry, who is extremely wealthy. They begin what looks like the arc of a traditional romance, and upon his proposal, she tells him she wants to wait for two years while she finds herself.
During those two years, she has to work as a governess for a family to whom her father owes money. The kids she teaches are unruly, but she eventually teaches them to read. At the end of the term, she goes back to her home. Harry finds her and re-proposes, but to my delight (and the delight of all the other Single at Hearts, not to mention many reviewers), she wants to put that energy toward her novel, which she finishes and deems My Brilliant Career.
Obviously, this is a pro-single picture. She rejects her suitors despite the matrimaniacal pressure coming at her and prevails. It only saddens me that the actress, Judy Davis (who was lauded for her performance) didn’t like the character. Was it her independent streak? Her rebelliousness? Davis married young, so perhaps it was difficult for her to play a character whose values conflicted with her.
At any rate, I enjoyed Davis’s performance, and I enjoyed the film.
