The greatest female director in cinema history, according to Terry Gilliam: “A better director than Fellini”
After starting in the Monty Python comedy troupe, Terry Gilliam put a unique stamp on cinema through his feverish and slightly feral style of filmmaking, leading to beloved masterpieces like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Brazil and The Fisher King.
Through his vibrant and frenetic cinematic palette, he has created a body of work that perhaps exists in a similar realm to the late David Lynch, creating dream-like worlds that are somewhat rooted in reality yet feel completely detached from anything familiar.
The director has a rabid fan following after helming psychedelic stories that thrive on chaos and absurdity, something that also infuses into his personal film taste and the stories that have inspired him. But while discussing his own cinephilia, the director shared one lesser-known director whose work he absolutely loves – a woman who was working ahead of her time and who claims is better than Fellini.
The film industry has never been inclusive when it comes to bringing marginalised people into the higher ranks, with women typically being excluded from these roles or not given the same level of funding/support, meaning that their work reaches fewer people.
Particularly during the ‘70’s, there were extremely few women who were given the opportunity to direct films, despite it supposedly being one of the most pivotal movements in the history of cinema as all structures and hierarchies were destroyed. But alas, this was only the case for the men who were working at that time, besides revolutionaries like Elaine May, Chantal Akerman and Joan Micklin Silver.
But over in Italy, Lena Wertmüller was steadily rising through the ranks and creating explosive work that nobody else was making, even going on to be the first woman nominated for an Academy Award for ‘Best Director’ after her 1975 film, Seven Beauties.
After creating films like Love and Anarchy, Swept Away and The Seduction of Mimi, mastering the art of satire through her astute political gaze, she became regarded as one of the most groundbreaking directors of her generation, with Gilliam joining in on this praise by saying, “The great woman director of all time, Lina Wertmuller. I got to meet her before she died, and her films are so strong. She was Fellini’s assistant for a long time, but the fact is, she’s in some ways a better director than Fellini. She’s much more political and social, where Fellini is about his world and him, she’s really social and she’s got very strong political ideas and a great sense of humour”.
To be described as greater than Fellini is perhaps the highest praise possible, with countless modern directors listing him as their ultimate influence and source of inspiration. However, the phrase ‘best woman director of all time’ isn’t exactly the most flattering, considering that Gilliam wouldn’t describe Eric Rohmer as the ‘best man director of all time’. However, the sentiment is nonetheless appreciated, and it’s important to draw attention to works that are equally deserving of attention, yet are often missed when discussing the evolution of Italian and global cinema.
