I watched this documentary last night and even though I'm a guy and love a great looking woman, I still agree with the general premise of this film: women who truly know themselves and know what they want in life go after that goal even if it means either leaving the mainstream of the Hollywood elite or walking away from it altogether.
Diane Lane, Sharon Stone and Meg Ryan were the ones who stood out for me the most in terms of what they said.
In Diane, I found two strong points made: a) despite the fact that she would like to be in love with a great guy, her main focus in her life is on her child and her desire to have looked back on her life years from now and say to herself that she was a great mom. And b) that she doesn't perceive that beauty is fading; beauty is something that a woman in her 50s and 60s can manifest more as a character actress and be confident in herself because she's okay with the fact that she's not the fascinating beauty that she was when she was in her 20s and 30s. The fact that she can evolve over time into an older and still attractive woman without holding onto the "immaculate" beauty of her youth is what makes her beauty continuous.
With Meg, compromising is the name of her game. In the first 3 to 5 years of her motherhood, she would take her son Jack with her onto whatever movie set she would be working on at the time and once he started school she slowed down to doing only one film per year (on average of work being 3 months) and devoting the rest of her time towards her son's needs. Also, her life is not defined by having a man in her life. Regardless of what the press has written about her in terms of what happened with her relationship with Russell Crowe (sorry to see it didn't work out, however) she is more "empowered as a woman" because she hasn't made her career labeled as some sex symbol or sexy blonde but has played some really great roles about 3-dimensional women (WHEN A MAN LOVES A WOMAN/SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE and PROOF OF LIFE are three good examples).
Sharon's point is about knowing when to let go of the care-free "fun stuff" of your youth and knowing that yes, it is scary and yes, it can either make you or break you but if you've got the guts to put it all behind yourself and walk on to the more mature woman and find more happiness and fulfillment and health. The key is to have the guts and determination to be willing to move on and act the age you've arrived at. Another good point is that being able to say fellow actresses are what inspire you to keep on working despite the fact that maybe "Susan Sarandon or Cate Blanchett or Julianne Moore can do that better than I can". Even if you start to feel less talented than somebody else, its not about competition, its about camaraderie and inspiration; those are tools that empower you to be better than you think you really are.
Diane Lane, Sharon Stone and Meg Ryan were the ones who stood out for me the most in terms of what they said.
In Diane, I found two strong points made: a) despite the fact that she would like to be in love with a great guy, her main focus in her life is on her child and her desire to have looked back on her life years from now and say to herself that she was a great mom. And b) that she doesn't perceive that beauty is fading; beauty is something that a woman in her 50s and 60s can manifest more as a character actress and be confident in herself because she's okay with the fact that she's not the fascinating beauty that she was when she was in her 20s and 30s. The fact that she can evolve over time into an older and still attractive woman without holding onto the "immaculate" beauty of her youth is what makes her beauty continuous.
With Meg, compromising is the name of her game. In the first 3 to 5 years of her motherhood, she would take her son Jack with her onto whatever movie set she would be working on at the time and once he started school she slowed down to doing only one film per year (on average of work being 3 months) and devoting the rest of her time towards her son's needs. Also, her life is not defined by having a man in her life. Regardless of what the press has written about her in terms of what happened with her relationship with Russell Crowe (sorry to see it didn't work out, however) she is more "empowered as a woman" because she hasn't made her career labeled as some sex symbol or sexy blonde but has played some really great roles about 3-dimensional women (WHEN A MAN LOVES A WOMAN/SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE and PROOF OF LIFE are three good examples).
Sharon's point is about knowing when to let go of the care-free "fun stuff" of your youth and knowing that yes, it is scary and yes, it can either make you or break you but if you've got the guts to put it all behind yourself and walk on to the more mature woman and find more happiness and fulfillment and health. The key is to have the guts and determination to be willing to move on and act the age you've arrived at. Another good point is that being able to say fellow actresses are what inspire you to keep on working despite the fact that maybe "Susan Sarandon or Cate Blanchett or Julianne Moore can do that better than I can". Even if you start to feel less talented than somebody else, its not about competition, its about camaraderie and inspiration; those are tools that empower you to be better than you think you really are.