The Ladies Almanack

The Ladies Almanack is causing me more difficulty in reviewing it than most WLW films. Mostly, it’s because this is an experimental art film. So, lots of standard ways to critique a film don’t really apply here. It would be foolish for me to criticize the film for its failure to adhere to the three act structure. As I now lack standard critical framework, more than ever, this feels like a subjective review. Personally, I did not enjoy The Ladies Almanack. That being said, the amount of love, passion and creativity present in every shot in this film is something I admire. Not only does this film love lesbians like few other films, but this film loves art like few other films do. I wish I liked it half as much as it likes itself.

The film takes place in Paris of the 1920s. It focuses on the lesbian artists, philosophers and general lesbian subculture of the time. Specifically, the film takes its name and some structure from the work of Djuna Barnes, an American lesbian living in Paris. Barnes writes The Ladies Almanack, which features an unusual amount of drawings and doesn’t adhere to many standard writing expectations of the time. As such, her work is not well regarded even within lesbian circles at the time . It’s also not remembered as a notable piece of lesbian writing. As a film, The Ladies Almanack strives to reintroduce this text and Djuna Barnes as a notable part of lesbian history and art.

And how does the film do this? Well, there’s no shortage of multimedia efforts here. Collages mark every new chapter in the film. Sometimes the film veers off from its main “plot” to show women swimming naked wearing glowsticks, or animal masks. Just as the original writing played with structure and multimedia, so does the film. Though in regards to the medium of film, I found these experiments somewhat lacking. A main “experimental” element of the film is a strong, granular overlay and a tight aspect ratio which makes the film look old-timey. But that’s one of the main ways The Ladies Almanack “experiments” with film. I appreciate the overlay as it sets this film apart from many other cheap WLW films. However, it feels less like artistic expression and more like covering for the cheapness of the filmmaking.

The main issue I have with the film is it just didn’t hold my attention. Several scenes in this are just dialogue scenes shot somewhat strangely. And these dialogue scenes aren’t interesting. The film focuses on so many iconic thinkers, writers and icons of lesbian history. And watching these women interact in this project, I did not want to hang out with them. These women and their conversations lack the vibrancy I wanted. Instead, the dialogue is stilted and the points they make are often obvious and made without poetry. The film’s overall theme is how cool 1920’s lesbians are. And I totally agree! I was constantly thinking how it might be really cool to hang out with these in reality. However, I didn’t remotely enjoy this film’s recreations of such characters and meetings.

Ultimately, The Ladies Almanack feels like it was made for a very specific audience of which I’m not a part of. And I can’t tell how valid of a critique that is. Because I do feel like as someone who likes lesbians, cinema and weird shit, I should like this movie. But the film is also coming from an artistic point of view that seems to have more in common with visual art and experimental theatre; things I don’t know much about. I also think sometimes having a specific audience is good, and I do imagine for people within that audience, this film will hit.

But I do fear this film is too local a project. Mostly what I mean is that the cast of actors brings down the project. The cast seems to be primarily non-film actors who I can only imagine are people within the director’s social circle. And as much as they seem to share the passion for the project, the acting gets in the way. As do the accents. This film about 1920’s Paris features a cast of women with very strong American accents. This alone makes the film feel too regional of a project.

Despite my lack of enjoyment, I again want to express how much love I could see in every element of this project. Creator Daviel Shy clearly seems to love lesbians and art. She really wanted to bring attention to the works of Djuna Barnes. It’s admirable to see and I hope this project turned out exactly the way she wanted. But as a viewer, what I was missing even amongst all this passion and love was a sense of joy. Perhaps in adhering too much to experimental principles of art, that feeling of joy and pride I sought from a movie like this was absent. And without that, I struggled to keep interested in the film.

Overall rating: 4.6/10

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