Marleen Gorris
Marleen Gorris (1982)
Born	(1948-12-09)9 December 1948 (age 76) Roermond,Netherlands
Occupation(s)	Film director,screenwriter
Known for	Antonia's Line (1995)

Marleen Gorris (born 9 December 1948) is a Dutch former writer and director. Gorris is known as an outspokenfeminist and supporter of gay and lesbian issues which is reflected in much of her work.^[1][2] Her film,Antonia's Line, won anOscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 1995^[3][4] making her first woman to win in this category. She has won 2Golden Calf awards and received numerous other nominations, including one nomination for BAFTA Awards.^[5][6]

Marleen Gorris was born on 9 December 1948 inRoermond in the Netherlands.^[7] She was born to Protestant, working-class parents in the Catholic southern part of the Netherlands. Gorris studied drama at home and abroad.^[7] She studied drama at the University of Amsterdam and has an MA in Drama from the University ofBirmingham, England.

She began working as a filmmaker with almost no previous experience in the cinema and made an auspicious writing and directorial debut in 1982 withA Question of Silence.^[7] The Dutch government provided the funding to finance the project.^[8]

It was not until the age of 30 that Gorris began writing scripts. She took her first effort to the Belgian filmmakerChantal Akerman, hoping to interest her in directing it. Akerman, however, told Gorris that she must make the film herself. The result,A Question of Silence (1982), caused considerable international controversy telling a story through the eyes of a female psychiatrist whose job it was to question three women who had spontaneously murdered a man casually.^[9] Some interpreted the film's feminist message to be about pent up "female rage"^[10] and dissatisfaction with a patriarchal system that boiled over the surface while other claimed it went too far and couldn't be taken seriously.^[7][11] The film was well received for its quality but still shocked many who watched it for its lack of condemnation of the murderers.^[10][11] At the Netherlands' Film Festival in 1982 she was awarded theGolden Calf for Best Feature Film forA Question of Silence, a feat she would repeat in 1995 winning Best Direction for her well known filmAntonia's Line.^[12]

Soon after the success of her first film, Gorris released her second:Broken Mirrors (1984). The film hold similarities toA Question of Silence both in production and in theme though many foundBroken Mirrors less impactful.^[13][14][15] Large portions of the cast and crew, including the leading women, crossed over to work on this with her.^[15] The film follows two parallel plots. The first of women working in a brothel called Club Happy House and the second of a woman kidnapped and starved to death by an unnamed man for his pleasure.^[16]Broken Mirrors explores female viewpoint and experiences just likeA Question of Silence, though this time with a larger focus on the oppressive nature of the patriarchy and power dynamics within it.^[15] The ending of the film proposed that a defense against these powers are unity and solidarity among women^[13][15] though this sentiment did not resonate for everyone.^[14][17] She did not make another film untilThe Last Island (1990). The film yet again tells a story of violence where a group of plane crash survivors are marooned on an island; the men turn on each other until only the two women remain alone and stranded.^[14]

In 1995, Gorris had her greatest international success to-date withAntonia's Line. StarringWilleke van Ammelrooy, the story of an independent woman and her female descendants was not as radical as the director's previous work, although a number of critics complained that the most male characters in the film were portrayed as either ineffectual idiots and with obviously secondary roles. However, critical support for the film was overwhelming, and it was honored with a number of international awards, including aGolden Calf and anAcademy Award for Best Foreign Film.^[7]

Her next film wasMrs Dalloway (1997), based on the novel byVirginia Woolf, with a cast that includedVanessa Redgrave,Natascha McElhone, andRupert Graves. It earned a number of international honors, including anEvening Standard British Film Award.^[7] She followed this movie withThe Luzhin Defence (2000), based on a novel byVladimir Nabokov. StarringJohn Turturro andEmily Watson, it tells the story of the love affair between an eccentric chess champion and a strong-willed society woman.^[7]Carolina (2003), starringJulia Stiles,Shirley MacLaine, andAlessandro Nivola, was released direct-to-video in 2005.

Gorris's 2009 filmWithin the Whirlwind, starring Emily Watson, was not picked up for distribution. According to Watson, "It was delivered pretty much the day the market crashed so nobody was buying anything."^[18]

In June 2017, Gorris announced she had retired from making films. Two years prior, she was diagnosed with aburnout after she had collapsed while on set shootingTulipani, Love, Honour and a Bicycle.Mike van Diem, like Gorris an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film winner, would later take over as director.^[19]

Gorris often tackles similar themes with her films including, but not limited to; feminist critique of the patriarchy, female community and solidarity, violence as a metaphor, allegorical settings, and genre subversion.^[20] Much of her style roots in Gorris's need to question the patriarchy.^[7] She blends realism with metaphor, using allegories, sometimes even fables, to handle real world issues through pallatable plots within her films.^[21]

By creating films that are inherintly feminist, Gorris's works are met with a mix of very positive and some critical reviews. Some reviews refer to her work as rad-fem propaganda.^[22] Through negative reviews like these, it's clear that what she creates has weight. Critics being stirred by the plot ofA Question of Silence exemplifies how badly feminist works are needed in the mainstream. More positive reviews paint A Question of Silence as a powerful metaphor, a progressive classic. Rather than just seeing the men characters in this film as characters created to hate on men, more thoughtful reviewers accept the male characters as a plot device to make the audience feel as objectified and stifled as her characters.^[23]

In 2012 the London Feminist Film Festival choseA Question of Silence as their 'Feminist Classic' and celebrated it with a 30th anniversary screening of the film.^[24] It has since been screened frequently in the UK, most recently at University College LondonUniversity College London in 2019^[25] and at the Leeds International Film Festival in 2023.^[26] By not only being the first woman to win anAcademy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but also winning such an award with an allegorical feminist film that represents queer people, has left a difinitive mark on the world of film.^[27]

Marleen Gorris came out as alesbian after the success ofAntonia's Line.^[28] Her partner, Maria Uitdehaag, served in its production as first assistant director, and was mentioned by Gorris in her Academy Award acceptance speech.^[28][4]

• List of female film and television directors
• List of lesbian filmmakers
• List of LGBT-related films directed by women

• Marleen Gorris atIMDb
• Marleen Gorris at theBritish Film Institute^{[better source needed]}
• Marleen Gorris atRotten Tomatoes

• 1948 births
• Living people
• Dutch feminists
• Dutch film directors
• Dutch screenwriters
• Dutch women film directors
• Dutch women screenwriters
• Dutch lesbian artists
• LGBTQ film directors
• Dutch LGBTQ screenwriters
• People from Roermond
• University of Amsterdam alumni
• Alumni of the University of Birmingham
• Golden Calf winners
• Directors of Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award winners
• Lesbian screenwriters
• Dutch lesbian writers
• Feminist artists

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