Women Reply (1975) - full transcript
What does being a woman really mean? How do women live the status society reserves for them? A group of women, beautiful or not, young or not, gifted with motherly instinct or not, answer before Agnès Varda's camera.
WOMEN RESPOND
to a question
produced by Antenne 2
for the show
W For Women
A Cine-Tract
by Agnes Varda
Our body
Our sex
What does it mean to be a woman?
To be a woman is to be born female.
To be a woman
is to live in a woman's body.
It's me. My entire body.
I am more than the hot points
of men's desire.
I am not just sex and breasts.
I am a woman's body.
Being a woman
is also to have a woman's head.
A head which thinks
differently from a man's.
Even though it's hard to find
my own self in a man's world...
No, no! I am not a man
without head or tail.
The woman
To be a woman
is to be unique, desired,
always there, mysterious,
with whims and fancies to match.
As long as you stand out.
Because we women
are supposedly all the same.
Nuisances, frivolous,
gossips, bitches, sluts, etc!
Women
From now on,
it's all going to change.
I can no longer bear
to be loved by misogynists.
I am unique, ok,
but I represent all women.
I am unique, ok,
but I represent all women.
Do all women
want to become mothers?
I do.
I don't.
I feel beautiful, full and desirable.
- "Give us brothers and sisters."
- Says the child.
"Give us sons,
soldiers, workmen, scientists."
"Give us daughters,
cooks, workwomen, mothers."
Says Society.
That's fine by me, I love children.
I don't care about Society.
I am giving birth to a child.
Not me.
Women are made to have children!
Do the same as me, little girl.
A woman who has never known
motherhood isn't a real woman.
Come off it!
Is a man who has not known
fatherhood less of a man?
What about Chevalier? And Einstein?
Mermoz? Balzac? Mozart?
What is a real woman?
How dare they decide
whether we are women or not?
How do we be women
outside masculine opinion?
What is a woman's body?
- If we must always account...
- for our weights and measures?
Men don't give us
the right to grow old.
Shot Censored by the Penal Code,
Section 283
If our sex is for pleasure
and children, how do we live it?
How do we live our sex?
We don't appear naked
in this film gratuitously.
- Nor to be ogled.
- We want to affirm our desires.
- Pleasure, not perversion.
- Sexuality, not sex shop.
Love, not blackmail.
You live in contradiction
when you are in a woman's body.
Crazy! We're told,
"Hide yourself, cover your sex."
And then we're told,
"Show yourself, your body sells!"
Make your minds up!
That's right!
We're told,
"Be modest! Don't show your ass!"
Since we were little,
we've been told:
"Hide when you pee!
It's not for others to see!"
We boys always try to pee
further than the others.
We girls are told to hide ourselves!
I'm fed up!
Where's the music?
From now on, it's going to change!
I'm not ashamed of my sex.
I never have been.
I'd almost rather hide
my peeling nose
than my sex which is hidden.
I'm not ashamed of my sex at all.
On the contrary.
I don't feel,
although Society tries
to convince me otherwise,
that something's missing
between my legs.
I'm happy as I am.
I've had a lot of trouble with my sex,
but I'm not unhappy.
I'm glad to be a woman.
I'm not ashamed of my sex.
When I have daughters
I'll try to undo these taboos
and ridiculously
absurd stereotypes,
so they can become
completely liberated.
We're told, "Show your legs,
the customer likes it."
I don't like my body
being used like this.
I don't like my body
being exploited to boost sales.
Nice lines and curves.
A beautiful desk.
She's prettier, but it's still me
they're using to make money.
I love it when you play hard...
Each time I see a poster like that,
I think it's absurd
to constantly see naked women.
It feels like I'm on the poster.
Each time a woman is undressed
to sell a product...
- It's me they undress.
- Me they display.
- Me they despise.
- Me they desire.
- Me they criticise.
- Me they buy.
- Me they order by phone.
- Me they pay for by check or cash.
Me they offer
as fodder for men's desire.
Go on, keep complaining!
Soon we'll no longer desire you.
How sorry you'll be!
I have enough love in me
to be desirable.
I don't have to be an object.
At the risk of displeasing you
and cutting ties,
dear fathers, husbands, lovers,
bosses and buddies,
we women are taking charge
of our evolution.
And if you still need
women and love,
you will have to change
your habits and some of your tastes.
I am a woman.
Women must be reinvented.
Then, love must be reinvented.
We agree.
To be continued...
Subtitling TITRA FILM Paris
to a question
produced by Antenne 2
for the show
W For Women
A Cine-Tract
by Agnes Varda
Our body
Our sex
What does it mean to be a woman?
To be a woman is to be born female.
To be a woman
is to live in a woman's body.
It's me. My entire body.
I am more than the hot points
of men's desire.
I am not just sex and breasts.
I am a woman's body.
Being a woman
is also to have a woman's head.
A head which thinks
differently from a man's.
Even though it's hard to find
my own self in a man's world...
No, no! I am not a man
without head or tail.
The woman
To be a woman
is to be unique, desired,
always there, mysterious,
with whims and fancies to match.
As long as you stand out.
Because we women
are supposedly all the same.
Nuisances, frivolous,
gossips, bitches, sluts, etc!
Women
From now on,
it's all going to change.
I can no longer bear
to be loved by misogynists.
I am unique, ok,
but I represent all women.
I am unique, ok,
but I represent all women.
Do all women
want to become mothers?
I do.
I don't.
I feel beautiful, full and desirable.
- "Give us brothers and sisters."
- Says the child.
"Give us sons,
soldiers, workmen, scientists."
"Give us daughters,
cooks, workwomen, mothers."
Says Society.
That's fine by me, I love children.
I don't care about Society.
I am giving birth to a child.
Not me.
Women are made to have children!
Do the same as me, little girl.
A woman who has never known
motherhood isn't a real woman.
Come off it!
Is a man who has not known
fatherhood less of a man?
What about Chevalier? And Einstein?
Mermoz? Balzac? Mozart?
What is a real woman?
How dare they decide
whether we are women or not?
How do we be women
outside masculine opinion?
What is a woman's body?
- If we must always account...
- for our weights and measures?
Men don't give us
the right to grow old.
Shot Censored by the Penal Code,
Section 283
If our sex is for pleasure
and children, how do we live it?
How do we live our sex?
We don't appear naked
in this film gratuitously.
- Nor to be ogled.
- We want to affirm our desires.
- Pleasure, not perversion.
- Sexuality, not sex shop.
Love, not blackmail.
You live in contradiction
when you are in a woman's body.
Crazy! We're told,
"Hide yourself, cover your sex."
And then we're told,
"Show yourself, your body sells!"
Make your minds up!
That's right!
We're told,
"Be modest! Don't show your ass!"
Since we were little,
we've been told:
"Hide when you pee!
It's not for others to see!"
We boys always try to pee
further than the others.
We girls are told to hide ourselves!
I'm fed up!
Where's the music?
From now on, it's going to change!
I'm not ashamed of my sex.
I never have been.
I'd almost rather hide
my peeling nose
than my sex which is hidden.
I'm not ashamed of my sex at all.
On the contrary.
I don't feel,
although Society tries
to convince me otherwise,
that something's missing
between my legs.
I'm happy as I am.
I've had a lot of trouble with my sex,
but I'm not unhappy.
I'm glad to be a woman.
I'm not ashamed of my sex.
When I have daughters
I'll try to undo these taboos
and ridiculously
absurd stereotypes,
so they can become
completely liberated.
We're told, "Show your legs,
the customer likes it."
I don't like my body
being used like this.
I don't like my body
being exploited to boost sales.
Nice lines and curves.
A beautiful desk.
She's prettier, but it's still me
they're using to make money.
I love it when you play hard...
Each time I see a poster like that,
I think it's absurd
to constantly see naked women.
It feels like I'm on the poster.
Each time a woman is undressed
to sell a product...
- It's me they undress.
- Me they display.
- Me they despise.
- Me they desire.
- Me they criticise.
- Me they buy.
- Me they order by phone.
- Me they pay for by check or cash.
Me they offer
as fodder for men's desire.
Go on, keep complaining!
Soon we'll no longer desire you.
How sorry you'll be!
I have enough love in me
to be desirable.
I don't have to be an object.
At the risk of displeasing you
and cutting ties,
dear fathers, husbands, lovers,
bosses and buddies,
we women are taking charge
of our evolution.
And if you still need
women and love,
you will have to change
your habits and some of your tastes.
I am a woman.
Women must be reinvented.
Then, love must be reinvented.
We agree.
To be continued...
Subtitling TITRA FILM Paris