Professor Marston and the Wonder Women (2017)

Professor Marston and the Wonder Women (2017)
Written and Directed by Angela Robinson

This is a very human story of the people behind the creation of the comic book character, who, of course, became the TV show, and ultimately the mega budget and super hit movie from the Disney Corporation.

Angela Robinson has made a very engaging movie about the triad love/sex relationship of William Marston, Elizabeth Holloway Marston, and Olive Byrne.  

I’m not really much into biopics. I don’t understand how they can even remotely approach the reality of the subject. Humans can not be contained in a two hour movie, and that is a good thing. Otherwise we would all be rather boring. We are more complex than that, especially if we are off the morn in any way.  Even the times people are living in are more complex than a historical movie setting. Modes of expression change from era to era, styles of conversation, and societal norms of engagement.

So I approached this movie from the angle of suspending disbelief as to the actuality of it all, the behavior of the characters. Did they really talk like that in the 1920s? This in particular with the frank dialog of the Elisabeth character at the very beginning of the movie.

If the movie and the queer woman writer/director, has an agenda, it is presenting a polyamorous relationship in a clear positive light without the usual melodramatic sensational. Being on Team Polyamorous myself I was on board form the outset to welcome that presentation and dropped the need for total accuracy especially since the characters involved were not actually pubic figures aside form William Marston himself, who used a pen name for his comic book writing and was therefore presumably invisible as a media figure.

What Angela Robinson presents is a realistic depiction of the struggles of people who need and dare to live differently from the intimate relationship norms and rules of their day. Their day that bleeds into ours, as the general community judgments of their behavior are not all that different now than they may have been then.

Meanwhile it is a very engaging love story entertainment. It is a beautifully written and directed movie with several scenes that are very effective emotionally.
Angela Robinson’s characters live and feel real, however remote they night be from the reality of the actual people.
Rebecca Hall as Elizabeth delivers a outstanding performance in her role as a modern woman of high intelligence and power in her relationships who must deal with new emotions in a complex situation.

Comics fans might be disappointed. It is not really so much about Wonder Woman although there is some content that has to do with comic censorship. It’s a love story.

This is a great movie by a supremely skilled filmmaker.
I will be looking for Angela Robinson’s future projects on the chance that she can do it again.