Ladies First

I’m not one to rewatch a movie, not unless enough time has passed. Same goes for travel. I’d rather visit a new place than return to the familiar.

Which makes it all the more surprising to say: I can’t wait to rewatch Ladies First.

Image credit: Netflix

The new Netflix film stars Sacha Baron Cohen and Rosamund Pike, and the premise says it all: a male chauvinist is transported to a matriarchal society, where he faces challenges from a formidable female version of himself.

They [women] get loud. They take up space, with their guffaws and backslaps and giant presences. And when they order, they go all in: double bacon cheeseburgers, ribeyes, the full indulgence. Their male counterparts, meanwhile, remain meek and order undressed salads.

Sure, it’s satisfying to watch Baron Cohen’s character get a taste of his own medicine. But the most satisfying parts of the movie come from the quieter moments, the tiny details that show us how thoroughly blinded we are by the patriarchy. It’s not until the mise-en-scène is inverted that we can see how distorted our real world actually is.

Without giving too much away, I’ll share one moment that brought me utter glee. The women who were once ignored are now the power brokers, and they’re out at a company dinner. They get loud. They take up space, with their guffaws and backslaps and giant presences. And when they order, they go all in: double bacon cheeseburgers, ribeyes, the full indulgence. Their male counterparts, meanwhile, remain meek and order undressed salads.

The contrast landed like a small shock for me. Imagine a world where women are conditioned to believe they’re deserving of an indulgent meal. That our bodies are more important to keep trim and small than sated and pleased.

Critics have offered mixed reviews. They call it high concept and predictable.

I call it a step in the right direction and an entertaining reminder of our imbalanced patriarchal society.

The next time I watch Ladies First, it will be with my daughter. I already know I’ll spend half the movie watching her instead of the screen, studying her face as she takes in all these upside-down rules of our world, rendered visible by being flipped.

Hopefully she won't, because she was raised in a more female-friendly world than I was, just as my mother could say the same about me.