"James Joyce's Women" is a 1985 British/Irish period drama based on Fionnula Flanagan's 1977 play.Fionnula Flanagan plays James Joyce's wife Nora as well as some of the real women in his life and fictional women from the writer's novels.Fionnula Flanagan recites some of James Joyce's most famous passages and in Molly Bloom's closing erotic monologue has explicit on-camera masturbation sequence which is wonderfully sleazy.I was impressed with her excellent performance of multiple female characters.Still there are some dull monologues in "James Joyce's Women" and I was expecting more erotica and nudity.If you are a fan of James Joyce books or literature/theatre buff you can watch this forgotten film which was never released on DVD.
4 Reviews
Courageous performance by Flannigan
stuthehistoryguy23 November 2002
This is a fantastic effort, a virtual one-woman show. Flannigan takes daunting, challenging material and makes it poetically lucid. The highlight comes in a long, sexually explicit monologue where she shows wonderful comfort with her body and expresses aspects of the feminine psyche not often seen in films. Highly recommended
Makes you forget there ever was a "Grease."
rkahnauthor8 September 2007
This is a towering performance of and about James Joyce and his works and women. Ms. Flanagan is sexual, as was Joyce and, of course, is life. Her work here reminds us of the depth and height that an artist can realize through film.
She addresses "Portrait of an Artist," "Ulysses" and even the lyric and mysterious "Finnegan's Wake." In counterpoint, she plays Joyce's real-life wife, the former Nora Barnacle -- they married after living together for 27 years We have nice bits by actors portraying such authors as E. Hemingway and F. S. Fitzgerald and poignant matter on the madness of Joyce's only daughter.
This will not make your local multiplex. But seek out the film, tape only, and watch it a few times.You will come away better understanding 20th Century writing, and, indeed, the human condition.
She addresses "Portrait of an Artist," "Ulysses" and even the lyric and mysterious "Finnegan's Wake." In counterpoint, she plays Joyce's real-life wife, the former Nora Barnacle -- they married after living together for 27 years We have nice bits by actors portraying such authors as E. Hemingway and F. S. Fitzgerald and poignant matter on the madness of Joyce's only daughter.
This will not make your local multiplex. But seek out the film, tape only, and watch it a few times.You will come away better understanding 20th Century writing, and, indeed, the human condition.
Accessible James Joyce
be_leafer26 June 2003
This is a wonderful film. Fionnula knows her stuff and she can help you know it too. It's been several years since I saw it, but there are some scenes that come to mind so easily and vividly. If you find James Joyce a challenge, as I do, this film makes his work accessible. 10/10!
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