I’m Your Woman

Crime seldom pays, and in the world of crime movies while the men are out there committing the next big heist, their wives are at home, always nothing more than a filler in the story. In Julia Hart’s (Fast Color) new 70’s crime drama that as not the case as Jean (Rachel Brosnahan) is thrust into the central role after her husband Eddie (Bill Heck) doesn’t come home from a job.

Jean is living her life, but not the life she thought she thought she would have. She met Eddie and the plan was to have some kids and to live happily ever after, but that didn’t happen. Jean instead spends her day at home alone, that changes though when Eddie arrives home with a baby, saying it’s Jean’s now. The new family doesn’t get to stay together long as a man names Cal (Arinzé Kene) arrives and tells Jean to grab the baby and to get in the car, giving her little time to grab more than a backpack and a few things for the baby. Jean tries to ask what is going on, but Cal says nothing and they hit the road for an unknown location. Once there, Jean is taken to a house where Cal tells her to remain inside and gives her a number to call if she finds herself in danger.  Things do not go as planned and Cal once again comes and gets Jean, this time taking her to an isolated cabin where she and the baby will be safe. Trouble is a coming though and Jean has to learn how to defend herself. In what seemed like a perfect marriage has a lot of secrets that Jean didn’t know tucked away in it.

I’m Your Woman feels and looks like every 70’s crime thriller you have seen, but just with a different angle. This story has been told a million times from the husband’s point of view, so this is a welcomed perspective. Julia Hart who co-wrote the story with Jordan Horowitz doesn’t pull any punches because Jean is a woman, but shows that unlike most stories in this genre, the wife can be more than just a sideline story. What works best in this film is Brosnahan’s performance as she goes from a deer in the headlights to a woman who can do what it takes to protect herself and her baby, even if at times that transformation doesn’t feel as earned. Where the story fumbles some though, is in its approach as its slow burn really fells like it takes a little too long to reach its boiling point. While things might feel long, the positive thing is that is gives you longer to live in the world that cinematographer Bryce Fortner created in this seventies pallet and the clothes from costume designer Natalie O’ Brien that still look as cool today as they did then. This is not just the story of Jean’s growth from a housewife to a hero in control of her story, it’s also about of growth as a mother, which again makes this even more unlike any crime flick you have seen before.