Wanda

Actor-turned-director Barbara Loden’s only feature length film, Wanda (1970), tells the story of a struggling working-class woman, Wanda Goronski, as she faces a troubled life, a failing marriage, and a sense of detachment from society. The film received critical acclaim upon its release and was the only American film chosen for the Venice Film Festival in 1970. Today, it is recognised as one of the most significant films made by a woman director.

Elena Gorfinkel’s study of the film examines Loden’s unconventional approach to storytelling, including long takes and a meandering narrative. Drawing on interviews, oral history and archival sources, she charts the film’s lasting aesthetic and political potency. She considers the tension between acting and directing in Loden’s manipulation and management of gesture, posture, voice and habitus, comparing her performance of Wanda in relation to independent and arthouse strategies and developments in de-dramatisation.

Gorfinkel goes on to situate the film within Loden’s career as a whole, discussing the recollections of her key collaborators and drawing on new archival research. She argues its significance to 1970s American film culture and its continuing influence on contemporary film practice.