I Am Woman
The year is 1966, and single mother Helen Reddy (Tilda Cobham-Hervey) arrives in New York with her young daughter to pursue her childhood dream of becoming a singer. But when her initial plans fall through, talent agent-turned-husband Jeff Wald (Evan Peters) enters with a life-changing proposal: he will manage Reddy’s career if she agrees to move to Los Angeles with him. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and though things go smoothly at first, fame kicks in and gives the couple a run for their money.
Directed by Unjoo Moon, I Am Woman tells the tale of a remarkable individual who overcame significant challenges to become one of the most successful singers of all time. Told with immense sensitivity, the story follows Reddy’s career through highs and the lows, injecting her music at intervals to show how pivotal Wald was in shaping her songwriting and, ultimately, her success.
Moon captures the spirit of the 70s down to the finest details, and Reddy’s wardrobe and makeup teams bring it home. We meet the protagonist in her early twenties, when her costumes, filled with swagger, are comprised mainly of the shirt dresses and halter gowns of the period. We follow her all the way to her late forties, where subtle hair and make-up age her convincingly. Reddy is a character who perfectly embodies what being a woman is like and Cobham-Hervey does the part serious justice. By striking the balance between stoicism and vulnerability, she demonstrates that true love must be a game of give and take. Her chemistry with Peters is off the charts, and it is their power struggle that gives the film its thrill factor, setting the plot up for its epic finale.
Helen Reddy is a role model: strong and determined, she holds her own and is never afraid to walk away without a fight. It is therefore no surprise that her music became the unofficial anthem of the women’s movement during the Second Wave of feminism. Helen Reddy went on to become the first Australian to win a Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance — an award she very much deserved.
Ghazaleh Golpira
I Am Woman is released nationwide on 9th October 2020.
Watch the trailer for I Am Woman here:
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