Actress/filmmaker Barbara Loden both directs and stars in the stark little character study Wanda. She plays a girl from a remote mining town, timidly searching for security and love in the big city. After several desultory and abusive relationships, Wanda is "saved" by Dennis (Michael Higgins), who turns out to be a petty crook. Stylistically, Wanda is spare, lean, and understated -- on every level. Loden originally shot the film on 16 mm, then blew it up to 35 for arthouse showings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
One of a handful of 1970s women's films directed by a woman, Wanda (1970) is a low-key study of a mining-town housewife who wants a little more out of life. Actress/writer/director Barbara Loden's deceptively passive Wanda seems to be a lost soul, as she wanders through coal yards in her curlers, yet she gets a divorce and strikes out on her own, ending up with Michael Higgins' criminal Dennis. Even as he makes her over and she hits the road with him, her inarticulateness becomes her means of resistance, manifesting the paradox faced by women who want to be more than a wife, in a culture that provides few alternatives. This subtle study of character and situation unstintingly reveals the grim reality of Wanda's existence, free of easy solutions or pat conclusions. Produced independently and shot on 16 mm film blown up to 35 mm for distribution, Wanda received accolades at film festivals and in limited arthouse runs, especially for its thoughtful performances. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
Wanda, after a string of abusive relationships, abandons her family and seeks solace in the company of a petty criminal (Michael Higgins).
Evaluation
Stylistically the film is improvisational and meditative in nature, similar to the works of European directors like Robert Bresson. It is seldom seen, but strongly admired. Loden, the wife of director Elia Kazan, died from cancer before she had an opportunity to make another film. But the legacy of Wanda, one of the very few American feature films directed by women at that time, endures.
