“Don’t you need a man to raise a man?” asks Elle Fanning’s Julie in “20th Century Women.” Annette Bening’s Dorothea responds, defiantly, “No, I don’t think so.”
And so the premise of “20th Century Women” is solidified: Three women of varying generations attempt to help a teen boy through his vulnerable adolescent years.
Set in Santa Barbara, California, “20th Century Women” follows Dorothea Fields (Bening), “a determined single mother in her mid-50s who is raising her adolescent son, Jamie (Lucas Jade Zumann) at a moment brimming with cultural change and rebellion. Dorothea enlists the help of two younger women in Jamie’s upbringing — via Abbie (Greta Gerwig), a free-spirited punk artist living as a boarder in the Fields’ home, and Julie (Fanning), a savvy and provocative teenage neighbor.”
While this plot summary may make it sound as though the film focuses on three women catering to a man’s development, “20th Century Women” actually explores three very different types of women and the three varying generations of which they are a part. And how they all have different ways of dealing with life, the changing times, and the men in their worlds.
“Men always feel like they have to fix things for women,” Dorothea says to her son. “They can’t just be there. That’s hard for all of you.”
“20th Century Women” premiered at the New York Film Festival in October and will have a limited, Oscar-qualifying run beginning on December 25 before going wide in January. A strategy no doubt put in place to get Bening a much-deserved Oscar nom.
Check out the latest trailer and poster for “20th Century Women” below.
