Professor Marston and the Wonder Women
2.5/4
Starring: Luke Evans, Rebecca Hall, Bella Heathcote
Rated R for Strong Sexual Content including Brief Graphic Images, and Language
"Professor Marston and the Wonder Women" is not afraid to take chances or explore some intriguing and unconventional ideas. This is, as far as I can recall, the first film since "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" to explore a polyamorous relationship between two women and a man (incidentally, both films star Rebecca Hall). It's just that it addresses this material with disappointing superficiality. Despite a trio of strong performances, I just didn't believe any of it.
William Moulton Marston (Evans) is a psychology professor studying emotions. Together with his wife Elizabeth (Hall), he's going to try and prove the validity of the D.I.S.C. theory of human emotion. To do this, he selects a pretty student named Olive Byrne (Heathcote) to be his research assistant. As Elizabeth predicts, William and Olive fall for each other. What she doesn't expect is that she will fall for Olive, and vice versa. Being that this is the 1920's and such relationships are not looked upon lightly, William is fired from his teaching position. But he uses his experiences with Elizabeth and Olive, the D.I.S.C. theory, and their mutual love of sadomasochism, to create the most successful superheroine of all time: Wonder Woman.
This movie is not lacking in the acting department, and that nearly saves the film. The three leads are so good that there are times when they successfully transcend the flat and underwritten screenplay. I've never been a fan of Luke Evans. The Welsh actor usually fades into the background in movies like "The Raven" or "Immortals." Or he completely embarrasses himself like in that pointless remake of "Beauty and the Beast." But here, Evans finds a role that fits him like a glove. I understood his passion, his love, and his gift for life. Rebecca Hall is like Michelle Monaghan or James Badge Dale: superstardom is a foregone conclusion. It's just a matter of when. As Elizabeth, she is a woman of great contradictions. She is fiercely intelligent and independent but is devoted to William and Olive. But as open-minded as she is, there's no doubt that she's the least comfortable with what her private life has become. I don't recall Bella Heathcote in anything, although she had a small part in "Dark Shadows," which I enjoyed. She was also in "In Time" and "Acolytes," but the less said about those movies, the better. As the pseudo "other woman," she's a natural actress. She wants this three-tiered love to work and will do anything to make it happen.
The problem with the film is that writer/director Angela Robinson seems unwilling to push the material into any interesting territory. This is just a conventional biopic with a new seasoning. Every scene seems calculated to one degree or another. The parallels between their relationship and the "Wonder Woman" comic are obvious and manipulative. And the emotional psychology stuff that is so important to the film, especially the first half, is poorly explained and inelegantly wedded into the story. I kept thinking of "Kinsey," another biopic that looked at the crossroads between psychology, sex, and the human heart. But the 2004 film achieved a level of intelligence and emotional honesty that Robinson doesn't even try for.
For a movie about rejecting conventions, it is ironic that the greatest flaw of "Professor Marston and the Wonder Women" is that it plays things too safe.
Starring: Luke Evans, Rebecca Hall, Bella Heathcote
Rated R for Strong Sexual Content including Brief Graphic Images, and Language
"Professor Marston and the Wonder Women" is not afraid to take chances or explore some intriguing and unconventional ideas. This is, as far as I can recall, the first film since "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" to explore a polyamorous relationship between two women and a man (incidentally, both films star Rebecca Hall). It's just that it addresses this material with disappointing superficiality. Despite a trio of strong performances, I just didn't believe any of it.
William Moulton Marston (Evans) is a psychology professor studying emotions. Together with his wife Elizabeth (Hall), he's going to try and prove the validity of the D.I.S.C. theory of human emotion. To do this, he selects a pretty student named Olive Byrne (Heathcote) to be his research assistant. As Elizabeth predicts, William and Olive fall for each other. What she doesn't expect is that she will fall for Olive, and vice versa. Being that this is the 1920's and such relationships are not looked upon lightly, William is fired from his teaching position. But he uses his experiences with Elizabeth and Olive, the D.I.S.C. theory, and their mutual love of sadomasochism, to create the most successful superheroine of all time: Wonder Woman.
This movie is not lacking in the acting department, and that nearly saves the film. The three leads are so good that there are times when they successfully transcend the flat and underwritten screenplay. I've never been a fan of Luke Evans. The Welsh actor usually fades into the background in movies like "The Raven" or "Immortals." Or he completely embarrasses himself like in that pointless remake of "Beauty and the Beast." But here, Evans finds a role that fits him like a glove. I understood his passion, his love, and his gift for life. Rebecca Hall is like Michelle Monaghan or James Badge Dale: superstardom is a foregone conclusion. It's just a matter of when. As Elizabeth, she is a woman of great contradictions. She is fiercely intelligent and independent but is devoted to William and Olive. But as open-minded as she is, there's no doubt that she's the least comfortable with what her private life has become. I don't recall Bella Heathcote in anything, although she had a small part in "Dark Shadows," which I enjoyed. She was also in "In Time" and "Acolytes," but the less said about those movies, the better. As the pseudo "other woman," she's a natural actress. She wants this three-tiered love to work and will do anything to make it happen.
The problem with the film is that writer/director Angela Robinson seems unwilling to push the material into any interesting territory. This is just a conventional biopic with a new seasoning. Every scene seems calculated to one degree or another. The parallels between their relationship and the "Wonder Woman" comic are obvious and manipulative. And the emotional psychology stuff that is so important to the film, especially the first half, is poorly explained and inelegantly wedded into the story. I kept thinking of "Kinsey," another biopic that looked at the crossroads between psychology, sex, and the human heart. But the 2004 film achieved a level of intelligence and emotional honesty that Robinson doesn't even try for.
For a movie about rejecting conventions, it is ironic that the greatest flaw of "Professor Marston and the Wonder Women" is that it plays things too safe.
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