Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger goes the saying….unless of course you’ve been paralysed in a high speed multi vehicle car accident but in ‘I’m Your Woman’ what Jean (Rachel Brosnahan) is about to go through courtesy of her husband will prove this. Set in the 1970’s and married to ne’er do well Eddie (Bill Heck) it’s made clear right from the start that when he comes home with a baby as a gift to his wife that he’s up to no good and just as bad is that Jean, who opens the film admitting that they are unable to have a child, accepts the baby as now being theirs.
At odds with being a housewife even being able to cook an egg and struggling to cope with a seemingly always crying baby her life is thrown into turmoil when, in the middle of the night, one of Eddie’s shady associates is banging at the door telling her to collect her things and leave for reasons unknown except that if she doesn’t her life will be in danger if she stays. Like Joey Essex approaching a door marked ‘Push’ she is bewildered and flustered but goes along with it and is driven by Cal (Arinze Kene) where they stay in a variety of motels until he drops her off at her new home with strict instructions not to talk with anyone. Still in the dark about where her husband is she’s told, ‘Everyone’s looking and they’re looking for you too!’ I’m your Woman plays like a mob organized witness relocation scheme and we’re kept in the dark about what Eddie has done as is Jean with the film gradually revealing more and more. It’s part of the films pleasure that information is revealed to both us and Jean at the same time.
Directed and co-written by Julia Hart, I’m your Woman is one of those films where the film would usually follow the husbands with their wives very much playing a secondary role but here, much like the recent Melissa McCarthy film, ‘The Kitchen’, the mob wife is front and centre and is soon joined by Cal’s own wife Teri (Marsha Stephanie Blake). Again Jean finds herself in a position not knowing who she can trust and Teri treads a fine line as to whether she can be trusted as more information comes to light.
I’m your Woman has its moments to shock with violence an ever present threat and Jean, never wholly sure as to why she’s on the run, is in an extremely vulnerable position heightened by her baby’s presence who is in 90% of the scenes and usually crying at inopportune moments when those who are after Jean won’t think twice about disposing of the baby too. I’m Your Woman is an immensely satisfying spin on the crime film with Rachel Brosnahan, who we’ve seen in Patriots Day but has come to the fore with TV series ‘The Marvellous Mrs Maisel’ but here sees her low key nuanced performance put you in mind of the always good Elizabeth Moss and that’s always a good thing.
Here’s the trailer for I’m your Woman ……
I’M YOUR WOMAN IS ON AMAZON PRIME FROM DECEMBER 11TH 2020
