mardi 26 mai 2009

Feminist themes in french fiction : the example of “Trois hommes et un couffin” by Coline Serreau (1982)



On the contrary to what men usually think, feminism is not against them. In fact, the freedom of women leads to a new way of thinking about them, and not necessarily a bad way. The purpose of feminist movements is not to emasculate men, but to help them to find a new place in society ; feminists ask for men the right to wish to have a child, to love him, to be stressed for him...

It is exactly the theme of “Trois hommes et un couffin”. If this film is not feminist, it talks about quite an unexplored theme in cinema : the feeling of fatherhood. It is one of the first movies to show men confronted to some problems, which everybody considers as “mothers’ problems” : how to change nappies, what to do when the baby cries... It breaks with the cliches “Men don’t have to worry about these sorts of problems, they just bring the money, they don’t have to be tender...” This movie shows sensitive men (what a horrible thing!) and allows men to love their children.

Coline Serreau did some very feminist movies (documentaries and fictions) like “Mais qu’est-ce qu’elles veulent?” (1973) or “Chaos” (2001). In “Trois hommes et un couffin”, she is not militant anymore, but chooses discreet themes instead of provocation.

1 commentaire:

  1. This is an interesting choice to discuss. What does it mean for a feminist to make a film like that? Is she laughing at men, egging them on, trying to create a model for them? I'll have to look at that film again and think about it...

    A couple of corrections: movement, quite an unexplored, sensitive men

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