Pepa Blanes (Elda, 1985), head of Culture at Cadena SER and one of the most recognizable voices in film journalism, launches with (Lunwerg Editores) an essay born almost by spontaneous combustion. The emergence of new directors, their growing weight in festivals and the box office, the shift in stories or the shock of MeToo gave rise to a question: “What has changed and why?” The book dialogues with the past and the present to recompose how fiction has told women and how they have finally begun to tell themselves: their friendship, their desire or their mental health. From to , Blanes traces a journey that mixes emotional memory, critical gaze and cinephile devotion.
Ask. It invites us to look again at what we thought we knew. Did any ideas surprise you when you reread it with today’s eyes?
Answer. See again The hours It moved me: the connection between women from different eras, how patterns in mental health are repeated… I liked discovering how mental health is linked to origin, gender, the moment you are born and the system. There is still a lot to discuss there.
P. What has to happen for women to always shine and we can drop the “when” of the title?
R. It needs to be consolidated. In Spain everything is very fragile: the Government, the dominant narrative can change… And we can talk about “women’s cinema” again. That there are more female directors is not only good for them, it is also good for society. In cinema there are more stories missing, non-normative bodies, racialized women and groups telling themselves. And there is a need for a director to be able to make a genre film with a big budget, a film like Bayona’s.
P. Does the label “women’s cinema” and the condescension towards works made by them still exist?
R. It is changing, but there are reluctance. With , by Alauda Ruiz de Azúa, many comments were like: “I thought it wasn’t for me, but it surprised me because it is well made.” That condescension is there. The label also has to do with the budget: if they give you less money you have to make more intimate films, it is not always a creative decision. And the idea that women make “their little things,” “their literature” still persists.
P. It points out three key struggles about equality in cinema: the gender issue, the identity issue and the class issue. Is class the most fragile right now?
R. It worries me a lot because it happens like with gender: only one type of story is going to be told and almost none of us come from the upper class. Studying film is difficult and making a film even more so: it is an expensive and complex process. There are also examples of change: Carla Simón got a scholarship and comes from a humble family. Cinema has become professional and that allows working people to make films, but it is still difficult and the majority need basic stability to pay rent, bills… It worries me because those voices represent the childhoods of many.
P. Phoebe Waller-Bridge signed a million-dollar contract with Amazon and hasn’t released anything since Fleabag. Do even the most revolutionary voices succumb to the system?
R. It also worries me. On the one hand, it does Barbie and manage to make changes within the mainstream. And we need it, but it makes me sad, I think: will it never make a Lady Bird? The same thing happens to me with Waller-Bridge, why hasn’t he done anything again? I don’t know if she’s not interested or if the system has swallowed her up. It’s a mystery. Maybe she is lost and we have to rescue her (laughs).
P. He says that MeToo produced a substantial transformation on and off screen. Is it consolidated or are we at risk of regression?
R. They are quicksand. Things are bad in Hollywood, but even though I criticize capitalism, I trust the market on this. Sinnersa black, political film, has hit it big and that means a lot. If those stories work, studios will have to accept it; money is more interesting than ideology. It’s sad to depend on the box office, but if there is an audience, maybe they can’t go back that far.
P. Is there any topic that you have wanted to address in the book and have not yet found how?
R. Maybe the body. I had anorexia and I am obsessed with that topic. I haven’t discussed it because it’s difficult: there are few films about it and body representation is hegemonic.
P. André Bazin said that cinema satisfies the desires of the viewer, but historically it has been male desire. Is it changing?
R. Female desire is being told from another place, breaking the male gaze. There are still very macho films, but there is already a reflection on how to film bodies and sex scenes. It doesn’t mean being blessed: it shows how sexy you can be. But now you think: do I treat this body as an object or do I give it dignity? Why is this nude important? That can change things.
P. Could any Goya candidate have entered When they shine?
R. It would be enough for a chapter: it addresses couple relationships from a point of view never discussed and the birth scene speaks of obstetric and ableist violence. And also: that return to religion, that spirituality that Rosalía’s album also deals with… It would be an interesting challenge.
