Misbehaviour (2020)

This was the feel-good but thought-provoking intersectional feminist movie that I needed. And Keira was so masterful as the semi-annoying typical white feminist (don't worry, this movie had a fully annoying typical white feminist too, for the purposes of realism) that I was immediately sold. Even when I thought this movie would go in a completely different (and pathetic) direction, I still believed in Keira. 

However, I should not have worried about the politics of the film at all. The writers and director (all of them women, yaaasss queens!!) had a very clear vision of where they want to take the movie and it showed. Every woman was treated with respect, but no one was glorified as the "ideal woman" or even the "ideal feminist". It felt quite cathartic to watch the "to be or not be beautiful" dilemma, or rather "to be or not be aware that you're beautiful" dilemma play out on screen, something that almost every woman with a feminist consciousness (particularly those of us exposed to white feminism and its strictures) has had to struggle with. I also appreciated how micro-aggressions were used in the movie- they weren't over the top, as they are in most preachy feminist tales. They were written like realities which one has mostly gotten used to, but still manage to shift your balance every once in a while with how omnipresent and brutal they are. 

Gugu Mbatha-Raw, to put it mildly, simply ate up everyone else in the movie with her portrayal of Jennifer Hosten, Miss Grenada. It's her performance that should be hyped because it is so worth it to watch her in all her glory. It's also a good introduction to her other works, I think- next up, Belle (2013).

In conclusion, bonus points to this movie for including Aretha Franklin's Respect in the soundtrack. At a white woman's meeting. Man, I should have been alerted to the tone of the movie early on itself.

PS- watching Sally (Keira) trying to win Jo's (Jessie Buckley) approval was very painful.