Professor Marston and the Wonder Women

B-

Directed by Angela Robinson

Starring Luke Evans, Rebecca Hall, and Bella Heathcoate
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​Review by Jon Kissel

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A different kind of superhero origin story, Professor Marston and the Wonder Women looks at the unique creative beginnings of the DC superhero.  Whereas a character like Spider-Man was born out of an economic need to reach teen audiences, psychologist William Moulton Marston (Luke Evans) is pitching radical feminism and sadomasochism directly at comic book consumers in thinly veiled metaphors.  Director Angela Robinson’s film takes great care to find plenty of instances in Marston’s comics to back up what the professor clearly stated was his purpose, and it’s amazing that Wonder Woman was allowed to be published in the first place under censors’ noses.  

That story is interesting enough, especially in a year when Wonder Woman was the highest grossing superhero, but Robinson’s primary goal seems to be to shine the spotlight on the two women who inspired Marston.  Played by Rebecca Hall and Bella Heathcoate, Elizabeth Holloway and Olive Byrne are two halves of a perfect whole.  Holloway starts the film married to Marston, and the younger Byrne is gradually brought in to their relationship.  Hall plays Holloway magnificently, a character standoffishly proud but justified in how she carries herself.  Her pride doesn’t engender a desire for comeuppance, but time spent desperately trying to gain this goddess’ approval.  Heathcoate’s Byrne is more feminine but no less impressive, softer while retaining her intellect and independence.  Evans is giving a standard period performance while his two companions are more contemporary and therefore more real. 
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Robinson aligns her film along the lines of Marston’s DISC theory of human behavior.  Standing for Domination, Inducement, Submission, and Compliance, each segment of the film broadly adheres to one or several characters doing one of those four behaviors.  To live as they do, the trio spends most of their time submitting to the whims of society, as Holloway takes a job beneath her education to keep up appearances and the film is framed by a censor, played by Connie Britton, interrogating a resistant Marston’s motivations.  The film doesn’t end happily, as Wonder Woman would be rebranded as a clumsy housewife in the years after Marston stopped writing the character, but Professor Marston and the Wonder Woman is most successful when it shines a hero’s spotlight on the women behind the scenes.  B-