A Female Gaze

This chapter covers the short but important history of women directors and the equally important, if not more vexed, question about whether a woman behind the camera makes a different kind of film than the majority of male auteurs. The chapter focuses on four very different women. Dorothy Arzner was the sole woman director in Hollywood from 1927 to 1943. Ida Lupino, who began her career as an actress, formed her own film company in the early 1950s and directed six features before turning her attention to television directing. The Polish director Agnieszka Holland has had a varied career, from directing American streaming series to features, many of which examine profound social and political subjects. Jane Campion, a New Zealander, has made a variety of films, from an adaptation of Henry James&s;s The Portrait of a Lady to The Power of the Dog , a Western produced by Netflix.