''Wanda'' is a 1970 American
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
drama film written and directed by
Barbara Loden, who also stars in the title role. Set in the
anthracite coal region of eastern
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
, the film focuses on an apathetic woman with limited options who inadvertently goes on the run with a
bank robber.
Inspired by her own past feelings of aimlessness, as well as a newspaper article detailing a woman's participation in a bank robbery, Loden wrote the screenplay for ''Wanda'' before securing financing through Harry Shuster, a
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
-based producer. The film was shot on location with a small crew of around seven people, primarily in eastern Pennsylvania and
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...
, and much of the dialog and filming was improvised, with Loden only loosely referring to the screenplay.
''Wanda'' was chosen for the
31st Venice International Film Festival, where it won the Pasinetti Award for Best Foreign Film. A restored version of the film was screened out of competition at the
67th Venice International Film Festival in 2010.
[ With reprints from an essay from the UCLA Film and Television Archive by Ross Lippman, and ] In 2017, the film was selected for preservation in the United States
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception ...
by the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...
for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Plot
Wanda Goronski, an unhappy housewife in rural eastern
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
, stays on her sister's couch after leaving her husband. Walking across a field of coal and hitching a ride, she shows up to a divorce court hearing late, relinquishes her rights to her children and grants her husband a divorce.
After being terminated from her job at a sewing factory, Wanda runs away with a man with whom she has a one-night stand, only for him to abandon her at an ice cream shop. Nearly penniless, Wanda takes a nap in a movie theater, where she is robbed in her sleep. Going to a bar to use the restroom, she desperately clings to an older man she thinks to be the bartender. The man, Norman Dennis, is a criminal in the process of robbing the bar. Unable to rid himself of Wanda, he takes her on the run with him. Even after learning the details of his lifestyle, Wanda decides to stay with Norman, whom she calls "Mr. Dennis."
Wanda spends some time on the road with Norman, and he becomes physically and emotionally abusive to her. He sends her shopping in a mall for new clothes while he robs cars in the parking lot. They subsequently visit the
Holy Land USA
Holy Land USA is an theme park in Waterbury, Connecticut, inspired by selected passages from the Bible. It consists of a chapel, Stations of the Cross, stations of the cross, and replicas of catacombs and Israelite villages constructed from cinde ...
theme park, where Norman meets with his
Evangelical Christian
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...
father, to whom he shows courtesy and respect. After, Norman convinces Wanda to be his lookout for a kidnapping and bank robbery. The robbery goes awry, and Norman is shot and killed in the lobby. Wanda arrives late, and watches from the street as police descend and onlookers observe the scene.
Alone again, Wanda hitches a ride with a man who attempts to sexually assault her. She escapes and runs through the woods. At nightfall, Wanda arrives at a backwoods
roadhouse, where strangers supply her with food, alcohol, and cigarettes.
Cast
Production
Concept
Loden said the film was semi-autobiographical and that she was inspired to write it after reading a newspaper report that a woman had thanked a judge after he sentenced her to 20 years in prison for her participation in a bank robbery.
Her husband
Elia Kazan claimed to have written the initial script and then Loden "rewrote it many times, and it became hers."
According to Loden, the character of Wanda was "created out of herself." In a 1971 interview, she said, "It was sort of based on my own personality...A sort of passive, wandering around, passing from one person to another, no direction—I spent many years of my life that way and I felt that... well, I think that a lot of people are that way. And not just women, but men too. They don't know why they exist." In crafting the relationship between Wanda and Norman, Loden avoided integrating any legitimate romance between the characters, as she felt it was unrealistic. Wanda's complete submissiveness to Norman was also partly inspired by a nonfiction book Loden had read about the upbringings of several prostitutes, one of whom recounted finding joy in her foster mother's severe overbearingness, as she was "the first person who ever told
erwhat to do. She appreciated it, even though the woman was mean."
Filming
The film was shot on 16mm stock,
on a budget of roughly $100,000 with a crew of four: Loden, cinematographer Nicholas Proferes, who also edited the film, Lars Hedman doing lighting and sound, and production assistant Christopher Cromin. Loden and
Michael Higgins were the only two professional actors in the production and most of their scenes were a result of improvisation. Loden recalled the logistics of the production as difficult, and said she ended up "using the
ctorsas they were" and quit referring to the script shortly after beginning. Loden worked for union scale, and Higgins's costumes came from Kazan's castoffs.
Loden said the film's visual style was inspired by several
Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the Art movement, visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore th ...
films.
![Holy Land postcard](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Holy_Land_postcard.jpg)
The film was financed by Harry Shuster, who formed Bardene International Films specifically to distribute it. Shuster had a one-third interest in the film; the other two-thirds was held by Loden, Kazan, and attorney Milton Kazan's nonprofit Foundation for Filmmakers. Any profits after recoupment that went to the foundation were to be put into a fund to finance future films.
Originally slated to be set in the South, the high cost of filming there and the production's need to be near the film processing houses in New York City prompted a change to the coal-mining regions of Pennsylvania.
[ Location shooting took place in fall 1969 in ]Scranton, Pennsylvania
Scranton is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lackawanna County. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 U.S. census, Scranton is the largest city in Northeastern Pennsylvania, the Wyoming V ...
, Carbondale, Pennsylvania
Carbondale is a city in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, United States. Carbondale is located approximately 15 miles due northeast of the city of Scranton in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The population was 8,828 at the 2020 census.
The land area th ...
, and Waterbury, Connecticut
Waterbury is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut on the Naugatuck River, southwest of Hartford and northeast of New York City. Waterbury is the second-largest city in New Haven County, Connecticut. According to the 2020 US Census, in 20 ...
. Several of the performers in the film were non-actors who were arbitrarily asked to partake in the film; among these are the man Wanda speaks with in the film's opening sequence on the coal field, as well as the actor portraying Norman's father, whom Loden and Proferes invited to play the part after finding him in a local retirement home in Carbondale. The final scene was filmed at an actual roadhouse in Sandy Hook, Connecticut
Sandy Hook is a village in the town of Newtown, Connecticut. It was founded in 1711. It was listed as a census-designated place prior to the 2020 census.
Sandy Hook borders the village of Botsford, the Newtown borough, and the towns of Monroe ...
. Loden filmed an alternate ending in which Wanda is accosted by the police at the roadhouse, but she ultimately deemed it "too corny" and opted to conclude the film with a morose Wanda being regaled by the local tavern patrons.
Post-production of ''Wanda'' occurred in Loden's home.
Release
''Wanda'' premiered at the 31st Venice International Film Festival, where it was the only American entry and won the International Critics' Prize for Best Film. It was also exhibited at the London Film Festival
The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival founded in 1957 and held in the United Kingdom, running for two weeks in October with co-operation from the British Film Institute. It screens more than 300 films, documentaries and sho ...
and the San Francisco Film Festival
The San Francisco International Film Festival (abbreviated as SFIFF), organized by the San Francisco Film Society, is held each spring for two weeks, presenting around 200 films from over 50 countries. The festival highlights current trends in in ...
.
Restoration
In 2007, the Hollywood Film and Video laboratory in Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
formally closed, and began purging film elements from its archive dating to the 1950s. The original 16mm Kodak Ektachrome ECB film elements of ''Wanda'' were uncovered during this purging, and subsequently acquired by the UCLA Film & Television Archive
The UCLA Film & Television Archive is a visual arts organization focused on the preservation, study, and appreciation of film and television, based at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
Also a nonprofit exhibition venue, the archiv ...
, saving them from being disposed of in a landfill.[ The film elements were restored, and the film was subsequently screened at the ]Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
in 2010.[
In August 2018, the film was re-released theatrically in Los Angeles.]
Home media
''Wanda'' was released on DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
in 2006 by Parlour Pictures. In December 2018, the Criterion Collection announced it was releasing the film on Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...
and DVD on March 19, 2019.
Reception
In Loden's recollection, European critics who saw the film at its Venice Film Festival premiere interpreted it as a political statement on the existential nature of American life, which she refuted. Critics Judith Crist
Judith Crist (; May 22, 1922 – August 7, 2012) was an American film critic and academic.
She appeared regularly on the ''Today'' show from 1964 to 1973 Martin, Douglas (August 8, 2012)"Judith Crist, Zinging and Influential Film Critic, ...
, Kathleen Carroll, and Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael (; June 19, 1919 – September 3, 2001) was an American film critic who wrote for ''The New Yorker'' magazine from 1968 to 1991. Known for her "witty, biting, highly opinionated and sharply focused" reviews, Kael's opinions oft ...
wrote unfavorably of the film, recounted by Loden as they disliked the protagonist for being "dumb, and stupid, and all the things people used to say about me... I think they're jealous, I really do... They were so vicious, it went over call of duty."
Upon its American theatrical release in 1971, the '' New York Daily News'' awarded the film two and a half out of four stars, noting Wanda as a "sharply-etched" character, but concluded that the film "remains a rather pointless dirge, for there never is any question that Wanda will end her journey from no-place to nowhere." Jean Dietrich of the Louisville ''Courier-Journal
''The Courier-Journal'',
also known as the
''Louisville Courier Journal''
(and informally ''The C-J'' or ''The Courier''),
is the highest circulation newspaper in Kentucky. It is owned by Gannett and billed as "Part of the ''USA Today'' Net ...
'' praised the film for its portrayal of its characters, writing: "Wanda is a classic loser, underprivileged and underintelligent, who, in her hopelessness, turns to prostitution. Miss Loden's performance of this pathetic creature will stick with me, I think, forever...nothing is more depressing than empty, stunted lives, and Miss Loden shows a sincere concern in recording them so honestly."
Stanley Kauffmann
Stanley Kauffmann (April 24, 1916 – October 9, 2013) was an American writer, editor, and critic of film and theater.
Career
Kauffmann started with ''The New Republic'' in 1958 and contributed film criticism to that magazine for the next fifty ...
of ''The New Republic
''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hu ...
'' called ''Wanda'' "a small, good work of art".
'' The Hackensack Record''s John Crittenden praised Loden's performance but felt the film would not resonate with many American moviegoers: "Sitting in judgment of the character, as audiences are apt to do, I doubt anyone will really like Wanda and sympathize with her. Nobody likes a victim."[ ]
The film is a favorite of actress Isabelle Huppert
Isabelle Anne Madeleine Huppert (; born 16 March 1953) is a French actress. Described as "one of the best actresses in the world", she is known for her portrayals of cold and disdainful characters devoid of morality. She is the recipient of sev ...
, who championed its release on DVD in France in 2004. The film has also been cited as a favorite by filmmaker John Waters
John Samuel Waters Jr. (born April 22, 1946) is an American filmmaker, writer, actor, and artist. He rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films, including '' Multiple Maniacs'' (1970), '' Pink Flamingos'' (1972) and '' Fe ...
, who presented it as his annual selection within the 2012 Maryland Film Festival
The Maryland Film Festival is an annual five-day international film festival taking place each May in Baltimore, Maryland. The festival was launched in 1999, and presents international film and video work of all lengths and genres. The festival ...
.
The film was restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive
The UCLA Film & Television Archive is a visual arts organization focused on the preservation, study, and appreciation of film and television, based at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
Also a nonprofit exhibition venue, the archiv ...
with funding provided by The Film Foundation
The Film Foundation is a US-based non-profit organization dedicated to film preservation and the exhibition of restored and classic cinema. It was founded by director Martin Scorsese and several other leading filmmakers in 1990. The foundation ra ...
and Gucci
Gucci (, ; ) is an Italian high-end luxury fashion house based in Florence, Italy. Its product lines include handbags, ready-to-wear, footwear, accessories, and home decoration; and it licenses its name and branding to Coty, Inc. for fragran ...
, and screened at the 67th Venice International Film Festival. The film has a 92% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, based on 36 reviews.
In a retrospective review, Justin Chang of the ''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
'' wrote: "To say that ''Wanda'' deglamorizes the American crime film is both entirely accurate and something of an understatement. Loden’s first and only film as a director is a searingly honest character study whose jagged, unvarnished aesthetic—inspired in part by Jean-Luc Godard’s '' Breathless'' and the films of Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the Art movement, visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore th ...
—stood in stark contrast to the slick Hollywood dramatic tradition epitomized by, among others, Loden’s husband, the director Elia Kazan."[
In 2022, the film appeared on Sight and Sound's critics poll for the Top 100 Films of All Time, tied for #48.]
Awards and honors
References
Informational notes
Citations
Bibliography
*
*
Further reading
*
* Mörke, Luise (2020). "What's in a Cone? Barbara Loden's ''Wanda'' Between Weakness and Resilience."
Senses of Cinema
' 96, October 2020.
* (also published in ''Senses of Cinema'')
External links
*
*
*
*
** {{Rotten Tomatoes, wanda
''Wanda: A Miracle''
an essay by Amy Taubin
Amy Taubin (born September 10, 1938) is an American author and film critic. She is a contributing editor for two prominent film magazines, the British ''Sight & Sound'' and the American ''Film Comment''. She has also written regularly for ''The V ...
at the Criterion Collection
1970 films
1970 crime drama films
1970s heist films
1970 independent films
American crime drama films
American heist films
American independent films
Films set in Pennsylvania
Films shot in Pennsylvania
United States National Film Registry films
1970 directorial debut films
1970s English-language films
1970s American films