Wander Cate

Who gets to tell stories matters, a lot. When stories are told exclusively by one group, you tend to see exclusively one kind of story. Like, gee, it does not show at all that in the eight full seasons of “Game of Thrones,” only four episodes were ever credited to female writers and only one episode was ever helmed by a female director. In eight damn years. Meanwhile the most exhilarating shows on TV right now are all made by and about women. Think “Killing Eve.” Think “Vida.” Think “Fleabag.” Think “Gentleman Jack.” Anyway. It’s not that those kinds of stories are inherently bad, it’s just that there are so many other stories that are just as good – if not better. And those stories never get told.

So I have this irrationally optimistic hope that a movie like “Where’d You Go, Bernadette” will give us another viewpoint on motherhood – and in association womanhood. Yes, I know, it looks on its surface just like a witty, almost light-hearted look at a midlife crisis from a female point of view. That alone would be different. But there’s this radical idea that women – even mothers – could want more from life than just a family. It’s the radical idea that women are people who have dreams and ambitions and narcissism and imagination and everything else. Or maybe I’m just being irrationally charmed – as usual – by Cate Blanchett’s everything. Either way, I’m going to see this movie.