This intelligent, engrossing and kinky biopic is about the psychology of emotions and the nature of male/female relationships. Marston is a Harvard psychology professor. With his even cleverer wife (a sparkling Rebecca Hall) he invents the lie detector. They both love their female assistant.
Inspired by the two women in his life, Marston creates Wonder Woman to show girls they can be anything they want to be, but this is defiantly not a superhero film. It’s much more than that. It’s a brilliant, unconventional film about brilliant, unconventional people. Unlike most anti-intellectual multiplex fodder, it’s chock full of interesting ideas as well as being grounded in three compelling characters. As the trio fall foul of social norms and Wonder Woman comics are publicly burnt, you’ll be rooting for them all the way.
The whole film is a clarion call for the freedom to live your life as you wish. In Marston’s words, ‘Who are you to judge us?’ One thing’s for sure, you’ll never look at Wonder Woman the same way again.
It’s sensitively directed by its writer Angela Robinson with a commitment and compassion perfectly attuned to its subject matter. The DVD extras explore the background and making of the film with similar heart.
I enjoyed the movie , it gives you a whole new perspective on the comic book character and gives an insight into characters who , while having heir ups and downs were true to themselves. I have no insight to offer on its historical accuracy , I suspect it promotes entertainment over accuracy , it is a movie after all and most peoples lives run to a predictable pattern when viewed from the outside which would make for a pretty dull movie. As a piece of fun though , well worth watching.
A word of warning though , whoever was responsible for the movie transfer to DVD should be ashamed of themselves the bitrate is ludicrously low - and for no good reason that I can think of. There is plenty of space on a DVD after all. As a result the movie looks pretty poor, really along the lines of 8mm , which even your phone can improve on these days.
When films are based on true stories you kinda always wonder how much is artistic license. Even if you halved the true story portrayed in this film it would still be a remarkable tale.
It’s a slow burner to start but what unfolds is really, really fascinating. There are lots of side twists. The acting and directing are spot on. Quite adult content in places we see the evolution of the global phenomena of Wonder-woman develop from an amazing ménage a trois.
Released the same year as the first movie adaptation of Wonder Woman, Professor Marston and the Wonder Women tells the true story behind the creation of the iconic female superhero. And it’s not exactly a PG-13 affair. It’s a tale of psychology, bondage, revolution, and sexual threesomes. From this fascination would come about one of DC Comics’ most prolific superheroes, saddled alongside Superman and Batman as one of the best. Strange, isn’t it?
William Moulton Marston (Luke Evans) and his wife Elizabeth (Rebecca Hall) are married and work as teachers of the 1920s at Harvard and Radcliffe. Their research includes developing lie detectors and determining DISC theory. When they’re not hitting the books, however, they’re very sexual. When they’re not being sexual or hitting the books, they’re scrutinizing social conventions in their snarky tones only professors could muster. This attitude turns out to have an odd effect on their volunteering research subject of the student Olive Byrne (Bella Heathcote). William and Elizabeth are shocked to discover she is the neglected daughter of Ethel Byrne, famed feminist at those times.
Tensions rise quickly, however, as Elizabeth suspects from the very beginning that Olive wants her husband. She’s right but Olive also wants Elizabeth. Those all parties eventually agree they love each other, a three-way relationship wasn’t exactly in for the early part of the 20th century. And so their romance remains closed behind doors of experiments, some scientific and other just for sex. And it gets pretty darn kinky with their dabbling in submission, bondage, and roleplay.
The deeper the trio go into exploring their sexuality, the more fascinated and frustrated they become. They eventually stroll down avenues of fetish art and bondage costumes, inspiring William’s research and making Elizabeth question how far she’s willing to go down this hole. There’s real passion in what they’re doing but also a desperation for a society that doesn’t accept them they’re pushed back for their secrets. Low on cash, William decides to penetrate pop culture for his ideas on DISC theory by taking everything he has learned and applying it to a comic book. After some convincing of publisher Max Gaines (Oliver Platt), Wonder Woman was born.
From there you can see how the controversy starts up, foreshadowed in the opening of people gathering to burn comic books. Wonder Woman is accused of being far too sexual, angering parents, conservatives, and the publishers who tell William to tone down the bondage. He triples it instead. There’s only so much censorship a man can take when forced up against the wall.
The acting trio of Evans, Hall, and Heathcote are fantastic in these roles. Evans brings that brilliance of a bright mind more blinded by discoveries than his own emotions, relationships, or even health. Hall has a great scathing personality the way she finds herself confident and feisty in matters she’s not altogether sure about how to process, questioning Evans at every turn to make sure he’s not just doing all this for sexual arousal. And Heathcote embodies a great fragility when it comes to matters of sex and love that have confused and made her less confident, making her boldness in honesty towards the end a very powerful climax.
Professor Marston and the Wonder Women is like that dirty bit of history a high school student finds and can’t wait to share. The film certainly amps up that giddiness with the material as well as the romantic tension and sexual discovery. There’s great energy present, especially with the smash-cut of Wonder Woman’s most suggestive moments and the three-way acts going on behind closed doors. Thankfully, the film is just more than eroticism and comic books, telling a grander story of acceptance in both identity and sexuality, making the film both wild and powerful.