fiction.wikisort.org - Director

Marleen Gorris (born 9 December 1948) is a Dutch writer and director. Gorris is known as an outspoken feminist and supporter of gay and lesbian issues which is reflected in much of her work. In 1995, the Netherlands won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film for her film, Antonia's Line.[1]

Marleen Gorris
Marleen Gorris (1982)
Born	(1948-12-09) 9 December 1948 (age 73) Roermond, Netherlands
Nationality	Dutch
Occupation	Film director, screenwriter
Known for	Antonia's Line (1995)

Early life

Marleen Gorris was born on 9 December 1948 in Roermond in the Netherlands.[2] She was born to Protestant, working-class parents in the Catholic southern part of the Netherlands. Gorris studied drama at home and abroad.[2] She studied drama at the University of Amsterdam and has an MA in Drama from the University of Birmingham, England.

She began working as a filmmaker with almost no previous experience in the cinema and made an auspicious writing and directorial debut in 1982 with A Question of Silence.[2] The Dutch government provided the funding to finance the project.[3]

Career

It was not until the age of 30 that Gorris began writing scripts. She took her first effort to the Belgian filmmaker Chantal Akerman, hoping to interest her in directing it. Akerman, however, told Gorris that she must make the film herself. The result, A Question of Silence (1982), caused considerable international controversy telling a story through the eyes of a woman lawyer questioning three women who had spontaneously murdered a man simply because he was a man.[4] Some interpreted the film's feminist message to be about pent up "female rage"[5] and dissatisfaction with a patriarchal system that boiled over the surface while other claim it goes too far and won't be taken seriously.[2][6] The film was well received for its quality but still shocked many who watched it for its lack of condemnation of the murderers.[5][6] At the Netherland's Film Festival in 1982 she was awarded the Golden Calf for Best Feature Film for A Question of Silence a feat she would repeat later in her career winning Best Direction for her well known film Antonia's Line in 1995.[7]

She followed up A Question of Silence with Broken Mirrors (1984). Set among a group of prostitutes in an Amsterdam brothel, the film re-examined some of the themes at play in Gorris' previous feature, particularly in its analysis of the patriarchy.[2] It was greeted with mixed reactions; many critics recognized it as an insightful, disturbing look at the sexual threats (both literal and metaphorical) directed at women in everyday life.[2] She did not make another film until The Last Island (1990). The film, which told the story of a group of people (two women and five men) and a dog stranded on an island, was dubbed by one critic as "a feminist Lord of the Flies for the '90s."^{[citation needed]}

In 1995, Gorris had her greatest international success to-date with Antonia's Line. Starring Willeke van Ammelrooy, the story of an independent woman and her female descendants was not as radical as the director's previous work, although a number of critics complained that the men in the film were portrayed as either ineffectual idiots or potential rapists. However, critical support for the film was overwhelming, and it was honored with a number of international awards, including a Golden Calf and an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film.[2]

Her next film was Mrs Dalloway (1997), based on the novel by Virginia Woolf, with a cast that included Vanessa Redgrave, Natascha McElhone, and Rupert Graves. It earned a number of international honors, including an Evening Standard British Film Award.[2] She followed this movie with The Luzhin Defence (2000), based on a novel by Vladimir Nabokov. Starring John Turturro and Emily Watson, it tells the story of the love affair between an eccentric chess champion and a strong-willed society woman.[2] Carolina (2003), starring Julia Stiles, Shirley MacLaine, and Alessandro Nivola, was released direct-to-video in 2005.

Gorris's 2009 film Within the Whirlwind, starring Emily Watson, was not picked up for distribution. According to Watson, "It was delivered pretty much the day the market crashed so nobody was buying anything."[8]

Personal life

Marleen Gorris came out as a lesbian after the success of Antonia's Line.[9] Her partner, Maria Uitdehaag, served in its production as first assistant director, and was mentioned by Gorris in her Academy Award acceptance speech.[9][1]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Director	Producer	Writer	Notes
1982	A Question of Silence (De stilte rond Christine M.)	Yes		Yes	Golden Calf for Best Film
1984	Gebroken spiegels (Broken Mirrors)	Yes		Yes
1990	The Last Island	Yes		Yes
1995	Antonia's Line (Antonia)	Yes		Yes	Academy Award for Best International Feature Film Golden Calf for Best Director of a Feature Film Nominated: BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language Nominated: Golden Calf for Best Film
1997	Mrs Dalloway	Yes			Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Screenplay
2000	The Luzhin Defence	Yes
2003	Carolina	Yes
2009	Within the Whirlwind	Yes

Television

Year	Title	Director	Producer	Writer	Notes
1983	De geest van gras (The Spirit of Grass)	Yes			TV movie
1993	Verhalen van de straat (Stories of the Street)	Yes		Yes	5 episodes
2007	The L Word	Yes			Episode: "Livin' La Vida Loca"
2011	Rembrandt en ik (Rembrandt and Me)	Yes		Yes	Director: 4 episodes; Writer: 1 episode

See also

• List of female film and television directors
• List of lesbian filmmakers
• List of LGBT-related films directed by women

References

External links

• Marleen Gorris at IMDb
• Marleen Gorris at the British Film Institute
• Marleen Gorris at Rotten Tomatoes

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