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Learning
Difficulties Major 
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TITLE |
Dangerous Woman, A (1993) |
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DISABILITY |
Learning
difficulty |
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DIRECTOR |
Stephen
Gyllenhaal
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NOTES |
Martha a
woman with learning difficulties lives with her |
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Martha wears
thick glasses and looks very plain. She works |
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at a
laundry. But when she tells a customer whose stained |
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jacket had
not been properly cleaned she gets fired and also |
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accused of
stealing money. It seems she cannot help but |
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speak the
truth. It turns out that her wages at the laundry |
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have been
paid by her aunt. |
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The aunt's
porch and steps have been damaged by a jealous |
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wife driving
her car into them. Frances who is a wealthy |
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widow
advertises for a handyman and Mackey turns up in a |
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campervan.
But Frances doesn't want his type plus he's an |
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alcoholic.
However Martha takes a shine to him and decides |
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to make
herself look prettier. |
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A romance
develops and they have sex. The aunt relents |
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and asks
Martha who lives separately from the house to move into the
house so Mackey can have her accommodation. But then Frances
drunk at a party seduces Mackey which she regrets in
the morning. |
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Martha turns
out to be pregnant. She stabs the boyfriend of a |
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workmate. He
was the one actually stealing the money from |
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the laundry
and blaming her. And he attempted to rape her. In |
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prison her
lawyer, who is Frances' boyfriend, says she must |
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say she was
raped by the man but she won't lie. Mackey who |
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is of course
the father wants her to have an abortion. There |
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is no trial
and she is put in an institution. Francis looks after |
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the baby.
Mackey who had left returns after six months. |
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Winger
stands out head and shoulders above the rest playing |
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a woman with
learning difficulties. She subsumes her beauty |
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and
especially her sparkling eyes so that we accept Martha |
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and the
situation she is in instead of continually thinking why is this
remarkably attractive woman stuck in this limbo life of loneliness.
It's a fact of life that there are people like Martha but films
(especially made for TV) so often represent such characters
in a 'beautified fashion' which contradicts the story in which they
feature. Even when Martha decides to pay attention to her appearance
she doesn't achieve the beauty which is Winger's. And praise to her,
so many actors will not allow themselves to look 'frumpy'. You could
argue that a less attractive actor could have been chosen for the
role. That is how films are usually cast. But actors sometimes like to
act. It's difficult for beautiful actresses to be accepted as good
actors. Julia Roberts is the most prominent example. And you might
argue that Betty Davis and Meryl Streep might not have been so quickly
praised for their acting had they been more conventionally beautiful.
However better still had Winger's performance been in a better film.
And the film is recommended on the strength of her part. |
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Notes
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