VOD film review: I’m Your Woman
Review Overview
Cast
8Pace
5Action
8David Farnor | On 16, Dec 2020
“Close your eyes. And when I tell you to open them, you can’t look back.” That’s the sound of Jean (Rachel Brosnahan) reacting to being dragged into the middle of a spy thriller. I’m Your Woman is a tale about people kept in the dark suddenly having their eyes opened to what’s going on around them – and how they each respond is what determines the nature of their character and their future.
Jean is a housewife to Eddie (Bill Heck), a criminal who lands them both in hot water when he betrays his partners. And so she – and their baby – moves from her chic 1970s lifestyle to something much grubbier and dangerous, having to go on the run to stay alive. She has no idea what’s going on or who’s on her side – which means we, too, are kept in a position of restricted knowledge and vision – but Cal (Arinzé Kene) appears to be a safe ally, and so she trusts him as he acts as her bodyguard amid the chaos.
If all of this sounds like an unusual story for a thriller, that’s because it is, and Julia Hart and Jordan Horowitz’s script finds its strength in the way that reorients the usual crime narrative around the female character who’s normally left forgotten on the sidelines. Rachel Brosnahan excels in the role, bringing a fortitude and determination that’s not just driven by parental instinct to survive and protect but also the frustration of domestic pressures and expectations, all fused with a compelling naivety. She becomes more and more sure of herself as the story unfolds, and seeing that gradual growth in confidence is the reason to keep watching – the plot itself is threadbare and slow, with things kept deliberately low-key, sometimes too low-key.
But Hart, who also helmed the not dissimilar Fast Color, is a dab hand at dropping in action to puncture a quietly tense atmosphere, and a climactic car chase is a corker, thanks to the balancing of physical peril and emotional investment. Crossing paths with Teri (Marsha Stephanie Blake), who brings another typically unheard perspective to the table, the formation of a new, unconventional family unit brings a richness to a superficially simple genre piece – a family unit that collectively finds the strength to move forwards without looking back.
I’m Your Woman is available to watch online on Amazon Prime Video as part of a Prime membership or a £5.99 monthly subscription.