Susan Seidelman
She Devil

Based on a romance novel "The Life and Loves of a She-Devil" by Fay Weldon, "She Devil" is a truly all-female comedy, thoroughly enjoyable, dating back to 1989, featuring a fantastic Meryl Streep portraying a writer of pink porn novels for frustrated and dreamy housewives. The story revolves around an ugly, awkward, clumsy woman (Linda Hunt) who escapes her miserable reality as a housewife through pink porn novels, crushed by a ridiculous family situation consisting of unruly children and a self-absorbed husband. After her man's betrayal and departure, she resolves to take revenge and rewrite herself, transforming into an independent and successful woman.

It is evident that the writer Weldon, who positions herself as a feminist icon and who also worked on the screenplay, wishes to settle scores with certain individuals and paints men rather miserably in her book. I'm not just talking about the unfaithful husband, but also the buff, idle butler of the wealthy writer. The latter is a pleasure servant for the good-looking mistress. The former believes himself bound to fundamental assets such as the house (his castle), but it's evident he is utterly disinterested in it (it's the woman who cares for it entirely), the family, which should be loving and attached, yet he is the first to view it as an "obligatory condition," a successful career (for which he goes to great lengths to maintain, including stealing from his clients) and the freedom to enjoy the fruits of labor (what labor?). According to the man, his wife, a housewife completely devoted and attached to children, home, and family, is responsible for the destruction of his assets. He only acknowledges a peripheral role for the poor woman, a pawn meant to produce serenity and support/live according to the husband's ideals, who is in a position of absolute egocentrism. He is thus depicted as ambitious, opportunistic, superficial, deceitful, a charlatan, dishonest, and completely uninterested in the progeny. He ends up paying dearly for it, but only thanks to the wife's revenge, who steps out of the shadows, acts, and demonstrates her destructive and constructive value. It is the awakening of the woman, a warning, an invitation to react and change, to flee the annihilation of one's person, to not forget oneself and one's goals due to the excessive love devoted to the "rest."

Frustrated by the erasure of herself, she first dedicates herself to the real destruction of the man's assets and then of his lover. Gaining confidence, she decides to provide security for all the women life has been unkind to. But we must not forget the pink and "full of beautiful things" world (another perfect façade world, actually full of stains) of the romance writer (Streep) who sees her balance disrupted at the first interferences and learns to react by seeking other resources within herself, cutting off the old and stagnant, completely reinventing herself, and structuring more credible certainties, because the pace has changed, and therefore, if you hit a wall, the right path is not to stop and cry. In short, the woman triumphs, in any case, whether starting from the bottom or the top.

The book, like the film, pushes in this direction and does not hide the ruthless touch of feminism, propaganda of a strong gender that does not bow to the abuses of the man greedy for sex, self-reinforcement, a hunter of wealth, and empty in feelings. Streep is perfect, passionate, elegant, caricatural. Truly brilliant.