Sally Potter Movies
One of cinema's more multifaceted personalities, director, writer, dancer, and performance artist Sally Potter is known for making innovative, personal films that center around the lives of unusual women. Born in 1949, Potter began making films as a teenager, and she also began dancing around the same time. She maintained parallel routes as a performer and director, training as a professional dancer and choreographer at the London School of Contemporary Dance in the 1970s and eventually founding her own dance company, the Limited Dance Company, with fellow performer Jack Lansly. During the same decade, Potter made a series of short dance films in both black and white and color, and she also became recognized as an award-winning theatre director and performance artist.Potter's first film of significant international import was the 1979 short Thriller, a critical re-working of Puccini's La Boheme. The film was a cult hit on the international festival circuit, and it was followed four years later by Potter's feature directorial debut, Gold Diggers. Starring Julie Christie as a woman who journeys to the Yukon to explore her heritage, the film had a decidedly feminist slant that won over many viewers even as it alienated others. The director followed it with a short film and the television documentary series Tears, Laughter, Fears and Rage, as well as a 1988 film on women in the Soviet cinema entitled I Am an Ox, I Am a Horse, I Am a Man, I Am a Woman.
Potter had her highest-profile film to date with 1992's Orlando. Adapted from Virginia Woolf's novel about an Elizabethan nobleman who lives for four centuries and changes sex along the way, it starred Tilda Swinton as its eponymous adventurer. The film earned great international acclaim, garnering two Oscar nominations and winning over 25 international honors. Following Orlando, Potter was able to explore her twin passions for dance and filmmaking with The Tango Lesson (1997), an autobiographical film about her experiences learning tango that starred Potter as herself. Although it was not as widely praised as her previous film -- some critics labeled it shamelessly self-indulgent -- The Tango Lesson further cemented Potter's reputation for making films that defied easy categorization. In 2000, she again returned to the theme of a woman's personal journey with The Man Who Cried, a love story centering on a Russian Jewish woman (Christina Ricci) who flees WWII Germany for Paris, where she becomes involved in a romantic rectangle with Cate Blanchett, John Turturro, and Johnny Depp. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi
- 2012
- PG13
Rebellious London teens Ginger and Rosa find their friendship tested against the backdrop of the Cuban Missile Crisis in this period drama from writer/director Sally Potter (Yes, Rage). The year is 1962. As the international dispute between the Soviet Union and the U.S. threatens to cast a shadow over the entire world, Ginger (Elle Fanning) seeks solace in the arts as Rosa (Alice Englert) favors such distractions as cigarettes and boys. Meanwhile, as the bond between the two girls is strengthened by their shared disdain for their respective mothers, Ginger's free-spirited father Roland (Alessandro Nivola) encourages his daughter to protest while sparking a twinkle in the eye of smitten Rosa. But for Ginger, the pain of her parents' breakup becomes too much to endure, eventually driving her into the company of a compassionate gay couple (Timothy Spall andOliver Platt) and their good friend Bella (Annette Bening), a poet. As the future of mankind begins to look increasingly grim, Ginger and Rosa both realize that the days of their friendship might be numbered whether the world ends in nuclear annihilation or life continues on as usual. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
Director Sally Potter examines the effects of globalism in the information age in this drama following a young blogger named Michelangelo as he interviews a series of eccentric subjects over the course of seven days. In a prominent New York fashion house, flamboyant designer Merlin prepares to debut his latest collection as curious blogger Michelangelo shoots interviews on his cell phone. His subjects; a disparate mix of New York denizens including a celebrity supermodel named Minx, a financial backer named Tiny Diamonds, a seamstress named Anita de Los Angeles, a pizza delivery boy named Vijay, a war photographer named Frank, and a critic named Mona Carvell. The fashion industry is in crisis thanks to globalization and a faltering economy. As the ever-increasing gap between appearance and reality widens, Michelangelo becomes the person everyone turns to in order to vent their frustrations. Later, when a model dies on the runway and police launch a murder investigation, the interviews take the form of confessionals in the eyes of a child armed with the two most powerful tools of his generation: the Internet and a cell phone. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
Filmmaker Sally Potter directed this artful meditation on the dynamics of the romantic and sexual relationship. She (Joan Allen) is an intelligent and gifted genetic scientist of Irish-American heritage who feels smothered in her marriage to a British politician (Sam Neill). While dining at a friend's house, She meets He (Simon Abkarian), a handsome Lebanese exile who was a respected surgeon in his homeland but now supports himself in London as a cook. He flirts with her, and She is pleased with his advances; weeks later, she contacts him, and an affair begins. However, despite their mutual attraction, He and She find it difficult to set aside their political and national differences for very long, as love and lust wage a quiet war against the conscience and the intellect. Yes also features supporting performances from Shirley Henderson and Sheila Hancock. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Joan Allen, Simon Abkarian, (more)
In this historical drama with music, a gifted singer (Oleg Yankovsky) from a Jewish village in Russia travels to the United States in 1927, leaving behind his young daughter Fegele (Claudia Lander-Duke). Father has promised his family that he'll send for Fegele as soon as he can, but authorities make life hard for the Jewish population, and Fegele is forced to flee with relatives to England. Fegele is adopted by a British family, which renames her Suzie and raises her with little acknowledgement of her ethnic heritage. As she grows to adulthood, Suzie (Christina Ricci) becomes a gifted vocalist and gets a job singing in a nighclub revue in Paris. Before she leaves England, her adopted family presents Suzie with a picture of her father, still believed to be living in America, and she decides she will go to the United States some day and find him. In Paris, Suzie makes friends with Lola (Cate Blanchett), a Russian showgirl in the market for a rich husband. Lola becomes involved with opera star Dante Dominio (John Turturro), and soon both Lola and Suzie are extras in Dominio's company, managed by Felix Perlman (Harry Dean Stanton). As Lola takes up with Dante, Suzie falls for Cesar (Johnny Depp), a poor but handsome gypsy horse trainer. Suzie soon becomes involved with the handsome Cesar, but their happiness proves to be short-lived when the Nazi war machine begins to roll through France. The Man Who Cried was written and directed by Sally Potter, who previously won acclaim for another unusual historical piece, Orlando. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Christina Ricci, Cate Blanchett, (more)
- 1997
- PG
Maverick filmmaker Sally Potter, who won acclaim in 1993 with the gender-bending, history-warping Orlando, returns to her dancing roots with The Tango Lesson. Potter wrote, directed, and starred in the film, also assembling the soundtrack, dancing, and even singing the film's final song. Potter was trained as a dancer in London in the 1970s before turning to film. Here, she plays Sally, a character who is essentially herself. Sally is a screenwriter suffering from writer's block and dissatisfaction with her own project, a murder mystery movie called Rage which focuses on the fashion industry. To take a break, she travels to Paris, where she sees the dancer Pablo Veron perform the tango. She becomes obsessed with the dance and offers Veron a part in her film in exchange for lessons. The two become deeply involved as dancers and as lovers, and their emotional intimacy threatens the success of their dancing together. The film is shot mostly in black and white, except for some dream sequences in which Sally fantasizes about her film project. Veron performs many modern dance numbers, including tap and ballroom dancing, as part of his tango repertoire. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sally Potter, Pablo Veron, (more)
Independent filmmaker Sally Potter's gender-bending epic, which views four centuries of sexual politics through the eyes of a sex-switching main character, is based on the 1928 novel by Virginia Woolf. The androgynous title character is played with delicate quietude by Tilda Swinton. The story begins during the reign of the aging Queen Elizabeth I (Quentin Crisp, in a droll turn recalling his The Naked Civil Servant). Queen Elizabeth takes a shine to the attractive young Orlando and seeks out his sexual favors. In return, Elizabeth grants him a large estate, commanding him, "Do not fade, do not wither, do not grow old." Orlando takes the queen at her word and doesn't. When Elizabeth dies, Orlando becomes attracted to Sasha (Charlotte Valandrey), the daughter of a Russian diplomat, but she rebuffs his advances. Crushed, Orlando accepts an ambassadorship to Constantinople. After witnessing the killing of a man in battle, Orlando undergoes a change of sex, becoming a woman and returning to England, where she hobnobs with 18th-century geniuses like Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, and John Addison. Walking through a garden labyrinth, the time frame shifts to the 19th century, and Orlando falls in love with a handsome American (Billy Zane). Now in the 20th century, Orlando gives birth to his child and continues on. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tilda Swinton, Billy Zane, (more)
- 1983
Lacking any particular plot line, this feminist film focuses on the adventures of Ruby (Julie Christie) who goes to the Yukon to search out her roots -- her father was a gold prospector there -- and also details the experiences of Celeste (Colette Laffont) as she tries to get her male bosses to answer her questions related to banking and money. Observations on the worse aspects of male chauvinism may turn off some viewers, while others will appreciate director Sally Potter's effort to expose bias. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Julie Christie
Rating Systems
Blockbuster
BLOCKBUSTER name, design and related marks are trademarks of Blockbuster L.L.C.
2013 Blockbuster L.L.C. All rights reserved.
Portions of Content Provided by Rovi Corporation. 2013 Rovi Corporation.