I Am Woman

Unjoo Moon's 2020 film tells the life of the Australian singer Helen Reddy. Arriving in New York in 1966 with her three-year-old daughter, a suitcase and two hundred and thirty dollars, Reddy was broke within weeks; within five years she was one of the biggest stars of her time, and the song she wrote became an anthem of the 1970s feminist movement. The film is at its most concrete when describing how record companies received a woman artist. The familiar problems of the biopic template are present: chronological progression, scenes that summarise whole periods, limited access to the character's interior. Tilda Cobham-Hervey's performance pushes back against that. The film's most interesting decision is to make the success story coincide with how her husband managed her career; a story of liberation turns into one of dependency. Who it's for: viewers interested in music biography and the history of the 1970s women's movement. Who it's not for: anyone tired of the biopic template, or who will find a structure carried by the songs shallow.