Film Gynocriticism – an Impressive Entrance

Tadeusz Lubelski

Abstract

A review of two books by Monika Talarczyk-Gubała: Biały mazur. Kino kobiet w polskiej kinema­tografii [White Mazurka: Women’s Cinema in Polish Cinematography] (2013) and Wszystko o Ewie. Filmy Barbary Sass a kino kobiet w drugiej połowie XX wieku [All About Eve: Films by Barbara Sass and Women’s Cinema in the Second Half of the 20^th Century] (2013). Lubelski considers both publications as manifesting a definite stance within the field of film criticism, he appreciates their high literary value, and highlights that the books are a result of a methodological specialisation - so called gynocriticism, to which Monika Talarczyk-Gubała subscribes. The reviewer quotes the author, who in the White Mazurka decided to rewrite and correct the history of the Polish cinema, in a way that would allow her to regain the emancipatory potential of a bygone era. Talarczyk-Gubała adopts this tactic in her analysis of women’s cinema from the threshold of 1930s until the beginning of the 1990s. All About Eve is a feminist analysis of films by Barbara Sass. Tadeusz Lubelski concludes by expressing his hope that the next work from the author so knowledgeable about women’s cinema will be a monography on Wanda Jakubowska.