In a sea of mainstream films that increasingly take up social issues and superbly transform them into entertainment, it is becoming difficult to stand out. I remember watching a slew of such films over the last few years, and much as I wanted to appreciate their intent, the packaging was starting to look run-of-the-mill. But Misbehaviour more than manages to create its own place. In fact, the trailer just does not do it justice.
The one factor working in its favour is that its inspired by real-life events. Based on the disruption of the Miss World, 1970 pageant in London by a group of ‘anarchist’ feminists, the film lightly but brilliantly explores how one woman gets gripped by the cause, creating a chain of events whose positive impact will be felt even decades later.
The film starts at a point where the protagonist, Keira Knightly’s character Sally, has a lot going on in her life already. She’s going back to university as a ‘mature’ student while raising her daughter with generous support from her partner and mother and is also engaged in trade-union activity. Despite this, her life seems to have other plans. It is her initial dissatisfaction with gender imbalance she sees around her, along with related events that sharpen her commitment to the cause and lead to the unfolding of the events in the film.
She joins a group of feminists, who believe that the beauty contest insults women. But all feminists are not made the same. The film shows the glorious differences in their opinions, and how overcoming them can make the whole greater than the sum of parts. In doing this it also resists a single point of view on women’s rights. Some of the contestants themselves are shown as well-defined characters as well, with very different perspectives on what the pageant means. In total, there are a number of female characters, who are at various ends of the spectrum and are responding to liberties men take in a patriarchal setup in their own ways.
Pulling it off, is to the credit of the movie-makers who may well have had an easier time painting the characters either black or white. I left the cinema with all their ideas swirling in my mind, and I am still trying to understand it from the different points of view. It is clear in the end though, that the real heroes of the story are indeed the active feminists who take matters in their own hands and play their part in making feminism mainstream.
Sitting in 2020, we have come far enough to not just proudly call ourselves feminists but even go a step further and say that ‘We should all be feminists’. It is hardly something we can still take for granted, however. First, because as many women (and men) agree, we still have a long way to go. And two, it is goose-bump inducing to reflect on how far women at the time had to shake things up to make a point about gender equality. It is hard to overlook the fearless risks they took. We sit in the shade because they planted the tree. The film worth watching just for that reason. But it gives us plenty more.
PS: I am not sure what it is about Dirty Dancing songs, but there’s one called ‘You don’t own me’, which also features heavily in the Misbehaviour trailer. Another one ‘In the still of the night’ was used in The Irishman, which I wrote about a few months ago. The coincidence has piqued my interest enough to go back and watch DD again.
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