The Invisible Woman

I’m not entirely sure if The Invisible Woman “counts” as a WLW film based on my own criteria. What does subtext even mean, really? The Invisible Woman has a strong focus on sexual tension between two women. The amount of eye contact and lack of personal space in this movie is insane. But that tension never amounts to anything. I might be making a bit of an allowance for The Invisible Woman because I enjoyed it. I love a vintage psychosexual drama.

The Invisible Woman is about a failing marriage and a bizarre love triangle-type situation. Laura’s husband Andrea actively doesn’t notice her anymore. Despite numerous attempts by Laura for him to notice her, let alone desire her, Andrea does neither. Also living with them is a “cousin” of some sort named Delfina. Andrea certainly notices her. But Delfina and Laura also have a close relationship. And the more Andrea tries to pull away from Laura, the more Delfina tries to draw them back together.

This is one of those fun psychodramas where everyone is rich and clearly has too much time on their hands because they do this shit. There’s so many insane power plays and fucked up relationships that don’t need to be so! But all of the characters are just so bored that they can’t have functional relationships or some shit. I really enjoy movies like this. Just seeing the worst of humanity because they don’t have enough external struggles so all they do is self-destruct and hurt others. But in a sexy way.

As mentioned, the lesbianism never fully culminates. Delfina spends most of the movie overtly seducing Laura. Through her looks, words, and touch, Delfina asks Laura to go further with her. But Laura has so many damn hang-ups. She seems to welcome far too close a relationship from Delfina, but always refuses to cross the actual line and kiss her. It’s frustrating, but kind of great. The dynamic in The Invisible Woman is basically the same as the film, Emilienne. Except in that movie, the love triangle was completed by the women sleeping with each other. Here, Delfina and Laura never take that step. So instead of the movie turning into a softcore porn, everyone just gets more frustrated and fucked up.

These vintage psychodramas are imperfect films. Often, some of the attitudes towards women or sexuality belie the age of the product. Such is the case here. Lesbianism is considered extremely taboo, even by a group that conducts numerous affairs among each other. They also try and use Freudian psychology to explain lesbianism. No thank you. Women in the film and their actions are also constantly for male attention. Tragically, even Delfina’s lesbian seduction is mostly to get entice Andrea. All this being said, I do cherish these movies. Vintage psychodramas are a non-renewable resource. We’re not exactly getting more of them. So I adore the ones we do have. As imperfect as they are, they are engaging, fucked up and also willing to explore some interesting concepts.

Plus! The Invisible Woman is stylish as hell. This is also something I assume of most vintage psychodramas, especially the Italian ones. Hair, costume, set design and makeup are all so strong in The Invisible Woman. This is a great film to look at. I should especially shout-out not just the makeup artist, but the very concept of eyeliner. Eyeliner is basically a cast member in The Invisible Woman. All that damn eye contact would’ve held much less impact without the necessary support of strong eyeliner.

The Invisible Woman certainly has its flaws. Not least of which is not having as much lesbianism as I might’ve hoped. Though truly, this movie is at least one-third just women making intense eye contact. It also ends in a way which you might expect for a 1969 LGBT-adjacent film to end. But even with these drawbacks, this is a really interesting film. There’s some fun, nasty power dynamics and a particularly weird love triangle. And there’s a real style to all of it too. Whatever bad I have to say about The Invisible Woman, I’ll take 20 films like this over one mediocre 2010s indie movie about coming out or whatever.

Overall rating: 6.2/10

Other WLW films in similar genres