Women in Nolan movies

[Nolan's Protege]

This is an excerpt of Jonathan Nolan's interview of Chris in the Inception Shooting Script book regarding females in his films.

Jonah: Someone suggested to me-someone who had seen the film and admired it-that being married to one of your characters is a very, very bad idea. And when you tally it up, pretty much every film of yours has a dead wife in it. Dead wife. Dead girlfriend. Dead fiancée.

Chris: I've written quite a few dead wives, that's true. But you try to put your relatable fears into these things. That's what film noir is, and I do view Inception as film noir. You take the things that you are actually worried about in real life, or things you care about in real life, and extrapolate that into a universal domestic drama- painted as large as possible.

[Liron]

Come to think of it, I'd love some opinions about Natalie in Memento. I mean, she's quite a crappy person, but on the contrary, one could consider her a powerful woman? Then again, she kind of shows dependency on men. Even if she does do a nice job manipulating
Where would you place her on a feminist scale?

[Meraxes]

Come to think of it, I'd love some opinions about Natalie in Memento. I mean, she's quite a crappy person, but on the contrary, one could consider her a powerful woman? Then again, she kind of shows dependency on men. Even if she does do a nice job manipulating
Where would you place her on a feminist scale?

Natalie also implied that Lenny was faking.

I never liked her, she used Lenny's condition to get rid of Dodd, but that is also understandable considering the world Natalie and Jimmy was living in.

[Liron]

but that is also understandable considering the world Natalie and Jimmy was living in.

True I guess. I gotta say, her character's much harder to analys than anyone else in Memento, IMO.

[Chaoticsouls]

I just made my post as a joke because I do think his female characters are lacking in substance. However, hopefully this will change with his newer films. Isn't Nolan's wife apart of his projects though?

[Joeyjojo72]

There are many many film auteurs who have been attacked for the same thing. Everyone from Felini to Altman to Spielberg to Nolan. It is what it is. The only remedy for the scourge of shallow, cliched, objectifying female roles is more women directors/writers/producers. And Im not talking arthouses, but movies that people actually go see.

[fakescorpion]

I do think his female characters are lacking in substance.

I don't agree.
Natalie and Mal are two of the most intriguing female villains I've ever seen on film while the protagonists were men. And I won't say Ariadne or Ellie Burr lacked depth either, they're just not the main character. (I even feel Ariadne to have more substance than Arthur.)

And sometimes, I really felt there's a double standard. The guys die in Nolan's films as often as the women.

[Asanty]

Mal was great move, but Catwoman and Miranda change things, forever!

[MikaHaeli8]

I just made my post as a joke because I do think his female characters are lacking in substance. However, hopefully this will change with his newer films. Isn't Nolan's wife a part of his projects though?

Yeah, producing. Not with writing, however

[darthnazgul]

As a feminist (or rather, a "we're all Human, can you both just stop bitching and start treating each other properly-ist") I do notice how Nolan's female characters tend to be there to die or not have a lot of depth. However, I can also admire the fact that much of the reason for Nolan's dead loved ones is of course relatable fears. We all have that fear of losing a loved one and much of Nolan's protagonists deal with the psychological implications of this. And there are a couple of good female characters (not really a fan of using the term strong characters) in his films, but the focus is undeniably always on the protagonist.

I can especially relate to Dom Cobb and his problems after losing his wife Mal.