Originally published on FilmInquiry
American Woman, from director Jake Scott (son of producer Ridley Scott), is a story of strength. While the trailers make it look a bit like a missing person thriller a la Prisoners, it’s far from this. It’s a character study of Deb, a rural PA woman raising her teenage daughter Bridget and her grandson Jesse.
When Deb (the absolutely brilliant Sienna Miller) isn’t busy fighting with Bridget (Sky Ferreira), her sister Katherine (Christina Hendricks) and brother-in-law Terry (Will Sasso), she’s busy meeting up with a married man in a motel to carry on an affair. That’s the kind of woman she is. She thinks wedding vows “don’t mean what they used to” as she puts it.
We all have met women like Deb. She’s crass, crude, shameless and as a mother, she’s more of a friend than a mom. She’s got a reputation around town that dates back to her high school days. She works at a grocery store and seems to have a kind layer deep down, it’s just masked by a tough, rough around the edges shell. Bridget goes to meet up with Tyler, her child’s father, and doesn’t come home the next day. A search party and investigation ensue, with Deb insisting it was Tyler.
We don’t stay on the search and aftermath long. Instead, Scott takes us forward through the years that follow. In one act, she’s financially reliant on her new boyfriend Ray (Pat Healy). Even though he demands complete control over both Jesse and Deb, she won’t leave him. In another, she’s meeting the kind hearted Chris (Aaron Paul) and seemingly finding the light she’s been looking for all these years. None of what makes this film so good is about what happens as much as it’s the how it happens and how Deb handles it.
Deb’s experience is the experience of the American woman. It’s the experience of facing down an oncoming and inescapable storm. You can’t run from it – there’s nowhere to go. All you can do is suffer through it, learn, grow, and come out stronger on the other side. The chaos will swirl and kick up dust, wave after wave battering you. But the American woman, Deb in this case, stands strong and refuses to lay down and let the storm take her away.
American Woman is an absolute powerhouse film. It’s a deep look at a woman’s attempt to grow and move forward, with the current constantly trying to push her back. With deeply moving and dynamic performances top to bottom, Jake Scott has directed a moving and deliciously dreary examination at an often overlooked woman in our country.
The American woman moves forward
Towards the end of the film, there’s one shot over Deb’s shoulder. She’s leaning down into the dirt and we see a green inchworm inching across her back. It’s only a moment, but it feels symbolic of the entire film.
What writer Brad Ingelsby and director Jake Scott are telling us is that the American woman inches forward. It’s not always easy, it’s not always fast. She may drive herself or be pushed off the ledge over and over, but she doesn’t rest. She’s a survivor. Just as the storm always comes, when Deb has gone over the edge for the last time, the sky opens up around her. The storm is passing and she’s ready to move beyond who she’s been. She’s ready to move past the loss, the abuse and the failures. She’s grown and ready to be on her own.
To see Deb’s character arc so beautifully evolve, even if her choices are frustrating at times, is so rewarding.
Sienna Miller gives an Oscar-worthy performance
Sienna Miller deserves an Oscar nomination for her performance. It’s that simple. For too long she’s played the supportive wife that a lead can lean on (think American Sniper). Finally given the chance to take center stage with what is a slightly underwritten role, Miller delivers one of the most moving and dynamic performances of the year with rarely seen range. It’s the kind of performance that defines a career and opens up new roles for her.
Deb is an absolutely explosive mess when we first meet her. It’s hard to sympathize with her as she’s so self destructive, even driving drunk and taking her hand off the wheels. The heart and the rage that Miller brings to the role is so raw and so true to character, you almost don’t even realize she’s acting. But as we learn, Deb is much more than rage and anger unleashed. She has heart. She cares. She grows. And Miller succeeds in redeeming a character that seems almost irredeemable.
People will compare the performance to Frances McDormand in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. While it’s a kind and well-meaning comparison, it underestimates exactly how transformative Miller is in defining Deb’s character.
Every single performance in American Woman elevates the film. Christina Hendricksis an actress you always expect a great performance from, but to see her as a less refined character really gives her a chance to show off her chops. Will Sasso is known for his comedy background, and while he does have some funny moments in the film, the grit he was able to show off especially stood out. Aaron Paul plays Deb’s good guy love interest Chris. While it’s a role he’s been somewhat typecast into, Paul delivers as always. Chris almost feels like all the best elements of his character in Breaking Bad.
A well-played balancing act
Part of what makes American Woman work as well as it does it that it’s a balancing act. Deb initially comes off so unlikable and short tempered that you think you’ll root against her. Over the course of the film, not only do we see her grow, but she reveals a softer side of her we didn’t know was there.
Amid all of the swirling chaos and horrors Deb faces are authentic moments of love with her family, of the loss of her daughter. Among all the serious and depressing situations she faces, Deb’s able to find moments of humor. To lean too far into the dark and dreary would be easy. It would also ruin the film. Ingelsby and Scott perfectly balance the struggles in Deb’s life with the moments that make her human and a character you want to see persevere.
Embrace the storm
American Woman is, like the inescapable storm, impossible to look away from. Sienna Miller gives a performance so true to character that it elevates every scene and every moment. The great performances don’t stop there though – the supporting cast brings Deb’s story to life in such an authentic way that it feels this is a real family going through real struggles.
The entire film feels like a perfectly mastered juggling act, keeping you completely at its will. What it delivers is a story of overcoming. The story of the American woman who makes it through the storm, the wind and the dark clouds to finally find some sunshine.
Have you seen American Woman? What did you think? What’s your favorite Sienna Miller performance? Tell us in the comments below!
American Woman Was released on June 14, 2019.