Wanda [Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray]

Director: Barbara Loden Barbara Loden

Overview

Wanda (Barbara Loden) is the divorced mother of two who leaves her family. Uneducated and with no apparent skills, she also suffers from a inferiority complex. A part time job isn't enough to earn a living, and her money is stolen when she goes to the movies. Wanda walks into a robbery in progress in a bar where Dennis (Michael Higgins) takes her as a hostage. The two engages in a series of robberies after he steals a car. Wanda watches as Dennis is gunned down by the police but she manages to escape. She drifts into a sleazy bar where she finally realizes she must resort to prostitution in order to survive in this depressing tragedy of social and economic contrast.

Product Details

Release Date:	03/19/2019
UPC:	0715515227612
Original Release:	1970
Rating:	PG
Source:	Criterion Collection
Region Code:	A
Language:	English
Time:	1:43:00
Sales rank:	11,414

Special Features

New 2k digital restoration by the UCLA Film & Television Archive, The Film Foundation, and Gucci, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack; I Am Wanda, an hour-long documentary by Ktja Raganelli featuring an interview with Director Barbara Loden filmed in 1980; Audio recording of Loden speaking to students at the American Film Institute in 1971; Segment from a 1971 episode of The Dick Cavett Show featuring Loden; The Frontier Experience (1975), a s short educational film about a pioneer woman's struggle to survive, directed by and starring Loden; Trailer; Plus: An Essay by film critic Amy Taubin

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Barbara Loden	Wanda Goronski
Michael Higgins	Norman Dennis
Frank Jourdano	Soldier
Charles Dosinan	Le père de Dennis
Valerie Manches	Girl in Roadhouse
Dorothy Shupenes	la soeur de Wanda,le beau-frère
Jerome Thier	l'époux

Technical Credits

Barbara Loden

Barbara Loden	Director,Screenwriter
Harry Shuster	Producer

Editorial Reviews

One of a handful of 1970s women's films directed by a woman, Wanda (1970) is a low-key study of a mining-town housewife who wants a little more out of life. Actress/writer/director Barbara Loden's deceptively passive Wanda seems to be a lost soul, as she wanders through coal yards in her curlers, yet she gets a divorce and strikes out on her own, ending up with Michael Higgins' criminal Dennis. Even as he makes her over and she hits the road with him, her inarticulateness becomes her means of resistance, manifesting the paradox faced by women who want to be more than a wife, in a culture that provides few alternatives. This subtle study of character and situation unstintingly reveals the grim reality of Wanda's existence, free of easy solutions or pat conclusions. Produced independently and shot on 16 mm film blown up to 35 mm for distribution, Wanda received accolades at film festivals and in limited arthouse runs, especially for its thoughtful performances.

All Movie Guide - Lucia Bozzola