Tilda Cobham-Hervey as Australian singer Helen Reddy in the bio-pic I Am Woman. In cinemas now.
At the beginning of I am Woman, a young fresh-faced Australian, Helen Reddy, exits a New York tube station past an advertisement depicting a smiling sixties house-wife next to a bottle of tomato sauce with the words "Even I can open it".
Blink and you'll miss it, but the brief
shot is supposed to set the tone of the film.
However, although the film is about a woman who's titular song put a rocket under the women's rights movement, I Am Woman is, disappointingly, not the feminist film you might imagine.
Rather, it focusses on Helen Reddy's career—a nut-and-bolts portrayal of the Aussie songstress. If you want to see a film about Helen Reddy the diva, rather than Helen Reddy the feminist, then this is your film.
Portrayed as a mild-mannered but strong-willed woman, Tilda Cobham-Hervey (Hotel Mumbai) gives a determined, if somewhat patchy performance as the doe-eyed artist. Alone in the big smoke, a toddler in tow, and only a few dollars to her name, I Am Woman traces the professional arc of Reddy's career and gives ample time to show off her many hits.
