Review: The Glorias

Image courtesy of Amazon.

 Much like Todd Hayne's approach in his brilliant Bob Dylan biopic phantasmagoria "I'm Not There," Julie Taymor's "The Glorias" uses four actresses to portray the iconic writer and activist Gloria Steinem, often including several of the actresses in one scene riding along in a bus discussing different stages of her life. Taymor's picture is ambitious, displays visual flair and always remains interesting, even if it occasionally feels a little overlong and overstuffed - an animation sequence, for example, probably wasn't necessary.

Regardless, the four actresses portraying Steinem - Julianne Moore, Alicia Vikander, Ryan Kiera Armstrong and Lulu Wilson as well as Steinem herself, who pops up in documentary footage from the Women's March in 2017 - give strong performances as they portray the Toledo, Ohio-born activist at various stages of her life.

Steinem's travels on the road with her father, Leo (Timothy Hutton), the type of guy always looking to make a dime from legit and not-so-legit means, obviously made an impact on the young woman, so as the past and present mingle throughout the film, we see Gloria as a young girl with her family - which also includes a sister and a mentally unwell mother, who was also a journalist when she was younger - often on the move, but also traveling by herself through India to meet with women from the lower caste to hear their stories.

As Gloria (at this point portrayed by Vikander) tries to make it into the world of journalism, she is disgusted by the chauvinistic attitudes she experiences - she is only allowed to do fashion-related articles; following a break-through article in which she goes undercover as a Playboy bunny, her male coworkers want more of the same; an editor nonchalantly tells her to meet him at a motel; and her suggestions to cover stories of value - the March on Washington, for example - are met with skepticism as to whether she's up for the job.

Steinem's journalistic work soon takes a back seat to her activism, and she reluctantly takes on speaking engagements, despite her fear of public speaking. She tackles such issues as farm workers' rights, abortion, equal pay, race and others, and begins to come into her own voice as an activist. Eventually, she'll go on to found Ms. magazine along with a group of other women, including the feisty Flo Kennedy (Lorraine Toussaint) and Dorothy Pitman Hughes (Janelle Monae). Bette Midler pops up as former Congresswoman Bella Abzug, while Monica Sanchez portrays Dolores Huerta.

The movie remains compelling throughout, even if it feels as if a whole lot of material was squeezed into its nearly two-and-a-half hour running time. Steinem often felt compelled to rebuff sexist questions during interviews about her love life or her reasons for not having married - so, when the film finally involves her brief marriage at a late age, it comes out of nowhere with little introduction and feels tacked on without much purpose.

Regardless, "The Glorias" has much to recommend - it tells a significant story about one of the pivotal figures of the Women's Rights Movement, and with panache. All four actresses are very good in their roles, with Vikander doing a great job of portraying Steinem's no-nonsense approach to male chauvinism, but also the wonder she experienced traveling around the country and the world. Moore is solid as Steinem in her later years, and there's a great moment at the beginning of the film in which she stops at a biker bar and is recognized by some other patrons.

Similar to Taymor's other films - "Frida" and "Titus," for example - the film experiments with various film stocks and visual tricks, some of which are more effective than others. But overall, "The Glorias" is an engaging movie about a fascinating person.