Anna Weinstein

From Nicole to Catherine to Julia: The Female Protagonists in Nicole Holofcener’s Films

Kennesaw State University , USA

Every few years, fans of Nicole Holofcener are gifted another indie-feeling film featuring a flawed protagonist – almost always female – whose moral center is slightly askew. Consistent across all Holofcener’s films is her attention to the secret lives of her characters, allowing viewers to be in the know in regard to the characters’ “shameful” behaviors and waiting to watch the inevitable fallout when the private is made public. Holofcener’s commitment to examining women characters who read as whole and layered, and especially risking unlikability by allowing these characters to make choices that are morally ambiguous, has set her apart from her peers beginning with her first feature, Walking and Talking (1996). Journalists have referred to Catherine Keener and Julia Louis Dreyfus as Holofcener’s “muse” as well as her “alter-ego.” And in fact, Holofcener herself has described these actors as both influencing her writing and bringing to life facets of her autobiographical struggles. This presentation will draw on Holofcener’s screenplays as well as published interviews with the screenwriter to examine how she leans into her own vulnerability to create complicated portraits of women who read as honest and relatable despite their often questionable choices. Important here is a discussion of the bravery involved with bringing one’s personal truths that audiences might perceive as “shameful” to character studies, while at the same time admitting the work is semi-autobiographical. Holofcener’s most recent film, You Hurt My Feelings (2023), is in many ways a meta-study on this conversation – a writer writing herself into her characters, exposing truths (dark and light), and fretting over whether she can be loved by people who do not love her work. There’s an argument to be made that all her films are a meditation on perspective – on what can and cannot be seen, on what people choose to focus on and look away from, and on the ways in which people hide, lie, or deceive themselves despite that nagging suspicion that others can see through to the truth of their character.

Anna Weinstein is an Assistant Professor of Screenwriting at Kennesaw State University in Atlanta. She serves as Secretary for the SRN and co-chair of the Film Area for the Popular Culture Association (PCA). She is the founding editor of two book series: PERFORM: Succeeding as a Creative Professional (Routledge), which includes eight volumes to date, including Writing for the Screen (2017); and the forthcoming series SCREEN STORYTELLING (Bloomsbury Academic), which will feature volumes dedicated to the study of significant and/or underrepresented screenwriters’ works. The first book in the Bloomsbury series, The Works of Shonda Rhimes, is due to be published in 2024. Anna is the author of Writing Women for Film & Television: A Guide to Creating Complex Female Characters (Routledge, 2023) and is co-editing a collection on Nicole Holofcener for Edinburgh University Press’s Refocus series.