This movie was extremely powerful. This wasn’t a comedy of remarriage in the same vein as the previous films (that is to say, not literally), though I definitely thought of it as a complement to what we’ve already watched. We needed to see a film that challenges the way we conceive of love and romance, and Antonia’s Line definitely did that–it showed many different characters in many different kinds of love. It is interesting to contrast a feminist film with the movies we’ve already seen.
I was interested in all of the ways that feminism was depicted in the movie. The women seemed to be in control of everything in their society, including the men. Danielle’s character was interesting in that she challenged conventions; she chooses single motherhood over raising a child with a partner, and eventually ends up in a homosexual relationship. Antonia has a healthy relationship with her lover, but never sees the need to marry him. And while Therese ends up with Simon, she remains particularly headstrong and independent throughout the entire movie. Many of the previous films have shown women in subordinate roles–the institution of marriage functions to keep them there, in many ways. But in Antonia’s line, there were no real marriages, only relationships. The film seems to suggest that an absence of marriage is one way for women to remain independent.
