Professor Marston and the Wonder Women (2017)
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Professor Marston and the Wonder Women Movie Review
Professor Marston and the Wonder Women is a 2017 biopic directed by Angela Robinson and starring Luke Evans, Rebecca Hall and Bella Heathcote. It surprised me with its quality.
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“She is beautiful, guileless, kind, and pure of heart.
You are brilliant, ferocious, hilarious, and a grade A bitch.
Together, you are the perfect woman“
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Yes, this film is so good. It is one of the films from 2017 that surprised me the most for sure. It is about the creator of Wonder Woman and the inventor of the lie detector. The film does showcase the invention of the lie detector really well and those scenes were fascinating. Some of the Wonder Woman creation scenes were rushed, but mostly it was very interesting witnessing the creation of an icon.
But where the film’s biggest strength lies is in its main story which is actually not about what Marston created but actually about how he lived. So basically he had ménage à trois with two women. He was married to his wife when another woman came to their lives and they both fell in love with her and she did as well. They eventually started a relationship and a marriage of sorts.
Now the reason why this film is so strong is because it converted me from a non-believer into a believer when it comes to this type of relationship. It shows us how if all three persons love the other two, the relationship could work and it actually did work for these three.
It is unconventional, but still they are very charming and wonderful together and their dynamic was infectious and a lot of fun. Having in mind that this happened all the way back in 1930s makes the three of them trailblazers in a way. The film is provocative even today and I can only imagine how provocative they must have been back then.
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Luke Evans is very good here and he gave a pretty good performance and is very charismatic and sensual in this role. A very memorable presence and Marston himself was truly an iconic feminist and way ahead of his time.
But the women are actually better here as this surely is a picture about women and the celebration of women. Bella Heathcote is so good as shy, endearing and lovely Olive and Rebecca Hall is superb as funny, energetic and somewhat bitchy Elizabeth. I loved the lesbian scenes here and I bought that all three love each other owing to excellent performances from all three of these actors. They all deserve bigger careers after this picture without a doubt.
Professor Marston and the Wonder Women has its flaws. It is overly rushed in its third act as some of the comic-book sequences were rushed for sure. The kids were also underutilized and too unimportant. The entire second half is somewhat abrupt as the film should have definitely had a longer runtime.
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But it is still one of the better films of this particular year and it took me by surprise how good it is. The screenplay is one of its biggest strengths – very subtle, smart and sophisticated while always being fascinating. The dialogue truly is amazing and probably even a bigger highlight here. I also loved how the film looked and its use of the color yellow in particular is terrific. Who would have guessed that the film about Wonder Woman would end up being better than the actual ‘Wonder Woman’ film.
Professor Marston and the Wonder Women is somewhat rushed in its third act, but such a stupendous biopic nonetheless. It was interesting to witness the creation of Wonder Woman and the invention of the lie detector, but inarguably its biggest selling point is its sophisticated and brave handling of ménage à trois. The film is very sexy, dynamic and continually intriguing while being propelled by very strong performances from Luke Evans, Bella Heathcote and especially Rebecca Hall.
