By Karen and Erica from Lustre
We first became aware of Jamie Lee Curtis when we laughed atA Fish Called Wanda, accurately described by Rotten Tomatoes as a brainy comedy with widespread appeal. She was smart, tall, beautiful, funny, quick, and had fabulous short hair. We loved her. But she never won an Oscar. Finally, in 2023, after about 45 years of acting, she won the Oscar for Everything Everywhere All At Once, apparently the eighth oldest actress to win the award.
Why do we care about Jamie Lee Curtis? Because we have continued to love her over the years, as she has remained smart, tall, beautiful, funny, quick and has kept wearing fabulous short hair. (Except in her Oscar role.)
We also care because for most of our lives we have not seen older women (by which we mean older than about thirty) playing anyone remotely attractive in films. Let alone powerful. Such roles as there were often portrayed older women as mentally incapacitated or murderous, or a dying patient or a meddling, horrible mother-in-law.
That era seems finally to be on the wane—we were thrilled to see The Woman King. Perhaps studios have begun to realize that older people, including older women, like to see themselves in authentic roles, and have plenty of money to spend on movies.
As we age, nearly all women notice that they become somewhat invisible in the world, but in the golden era of the women’s film, older women really were expected to fade quietly into the wallpaper. Aging actresses would be relegated to playing anonymous matrons and dowager aunties. But the women in 80 for Brady and Book Club want to be seen on their own terms, whatever those might be.
this for a taste! Tom Brady, playing himself, shares our ideas about retirement—try not to do it but if you have to then start something new. And because of the star actors—and Mr. Brady—-this is not a sacharine story about the doyenne of a large family with nothing to do but cook for them. As Time magazine put it:
Do we really want to see them [i.e. women over 40] stuck playing wise matriarchs of big, sprawling families? Ho-hum to that.
Time also has the best line, about dressing up:
Fonda’s Trish, a beauty queen who’s still got it, comes decked out in a great wig (she travels with a suitcase full of them) and some sort of evening garb. But Tomlin strides in, leggy and elegant, in a drapey black sequined tuxedo that, rather than coming off as an effort to turn back the clock, merely stops time. It’s a statement look that whispers rather than shouts, a kind of shorthand for all the ways it’s possible to assert your space in the world, through word and deed as well as the way you present and carry yourself.
That’s how we see Jamie Lee Curtis, too. Leggy and elegant, not trying to turn back the clock but instead stopping time.
Ms. Curtis, we are your best fans, and so happy about your Oscar! Even those of us older than you see you as a role model. That’s why we are issuing an open invitation: please come and speak with a group of fabulous women, here on Lustre’s platform. If you say yes, we think Tom Brady will come too. Imagine the conversation! No stepping back for this crowd!
