The Glorias – A Flawed But Inspiring Biopic

Julie Taymor is one of the most original and criminally under-appreciated American filmmakers currently working today. She is one of the few stage directors who succeeded at making the transition into film, as she uses her Shakespearean background to craft visually unique and expansive films that all possess a theatrical feel. After taking a break from filmmaking for several years to focus her energy exclusively on her theatre career, The Glorias represents her long-awaited return to the big screen. 

The Glorias tells the story of revolutionary American women’s activist and journalist Gloria Steinem, who is having a big year between this film and the recent Mrs. America limited series, chronicling her life from her unique childhood in 1940s Ohio to her taking a leading role in the women’s liberation movement. Spanning over the course of 50 years, the film features four actresses (Moore, Vikander, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Lulu Wilson) portraying Steinem at four different stages of her life. 

With the film, Taymor attempts to dig deeper than to just merely tell the tale of Steinem, as she explores her most inner thoughts, regrets and successes through cleverly staged scenes of dialogue between the four portrayals of Gloria. While this technique has been used countless times before, the creative and visually entrancing way in which Taymor approaches telling this story helps to successfully break the constraints that many biopics are bound to thus allowing the audience to gain a deeper appreciation of Steinem and the struggles she faced in her fight against an oppressive system. 

The four actresses who portray Steinem each deliver impressive performances in their own right and maintain a certain fluidity that allows the transition between each stage of her life to be absolutely seamless. Vikander in particular shines as the 20-40 year old Steinem, portraying her as an emerging activist who’s experiences fuel her drive to fight an oppressive system. She is perfectly cast, as is Moore who delivers one of her most impressive and down to earth performances to date. 

However, there are two major issues that hold The Glorias back from achieving its full potential as a groundbreaking biopic. The first was the screenplay. While the dialogue for the most part is witty and thoroughly engaging, it addressing important issues in too much of an on-the-nose way, which significantly halters its emotional impact. The second and more pressing issue was the film’s unnecessary reliance on fantastical elements that almost completely derail the film’s sense of authenticity. Taymor’s films often blur the lines between fantasy and reality, and usually her attempts at striking that balance are very effective. in the case of this film, the fantasy-based elements feel shoehorned and don’t add anything of substance to the story. Though these sequences were sparse, they still felt very jarring and often negatively impact the film’s pacing. 

In the end, The Glorias is a flawed yet creative and informative look into the mind of one of America’s most important figures.

still courtesy of levelFilm

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Tristan French