Woman of the Year (1942)

Director: George Stevens

Actors: Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy.

114 mins, U cert.

At a first glance, this film looks like any other 1940s Hollywood rom-com you could care to mention; I assure you that this isn't the case with Woman of the Year.

The first film in the nine film series starring the famed Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn pairing sees the couple playing a married couple whose relationship hits a bump with the realisation that Katharine Hepburn's character, Tessie, is not like any normal housewife; she's a devoted career-woman.

At the beginning of the film, Tessie is an amazing example of a strong female force in the workplace; she displays unabashed determination in anything she sets out to do, including wooing Sam (Spencer Tracy), a colleague at the newspaper Tessie works for. She seemingly takes on the masculine gender role in the dating process – she placates Sam after upsetting him at a party with buying him a bottle of scotch. In turn, Sam adopts feminine roles, such as cooking for both Tessie and her assistant, pushing the idea of marriage. As the film progresses, Sam grows weary of Tessie’s devotion to her job and he leaves just before Tessie wins the Woman of the Year award. It is not until Tessie witnesses her father’s wedding does she realise that the key to a happy, successful marriage is co-operation. She returns to Sam and she tries to adopt the role of a typical housewife, to disastrous results. Sam, after telling her that he was never been more disappointed in her, takes her back.

The film, on a whole, is a fun, playful look at the way problems can occur when interests in marriage and career are opposed against each other. The scenes where Tessie and Sam are dating are charmingly funny, especially when Tessie accompanies Sam to a baseball match on which he is reporting; at first, Tessie sticks out like a sore thumb amongst the jeering supporters, but after she learns the rules of the sport, she becomes one of the crowd. It cannot go unsaid that this is the first Spencer Tracy/Katharine Hepburn collaboration, and it is during this film in which they became romantically involved - you can honestly see the sparks flying in certain scenes of Woman of the Year, and this in itself makes the film worthwhile.

Of course this film shows a true feminist streak which, unfortunately, is compromised by the ending; this ending has the ability to split audiences down the middle. Some will say that it is a happy ending for Tessie, others with strongly disagree. Does Sam accept her for being a strong career woman after the camera stops rolling, or will the same arguments occur throughout their marriage? Or does Tessie step back from her job to placate Sam? Either way, it is fairly safe to say that Tessie has been ‘domesticated’, and that she has to sacrifice a part of either herself or her career to be happily married. Now, we understand that this film is very much a product of the 1940s - where feminism was still in its baby stages, barely blinking open her eyes to focus her blurry gaze on issues it will later tackle for many years. We know this, and so any deconstruction on the sexist undertones and overscore is void.

However, what we can do is look at the leading lady, the fabulous Katharine Hepburn (a figure who I gleefully fangirl over to this day). Hepburn was always the strong lead character, cutting her way through the silver screen in heels and suits, a statement that struck me as a child growing up on an unsteady diet of The Wizard of Oz's Dorothy and Disney princesses. No matter how much love I have for Hepburn, I can't help but feel let down when I watch Woman of the Year. You might say that I'm probably taking this too personally, but I can't disagree more, dear reader! It's fairly safe to assume that, with most of Hepburn's films, she takes more than just an acting role. Admittedly, I haven't yet read the ins and outs of the production of this film, so I cannot say for sure if she had her hand in the production of this particular film. I just hope that she had her own personal grumbles about the ending too.