I’m Your Woman Review: Not Your Typical Crime Drama

A person can learn a lot about themselves when their life is in immediate danger.

Amazon’s latest original film, I’m Your Woman, shows just that, offering a new perspective to the classic 1970s style crime dramas.

The film follows Jean (Rachel Brosnahan), a despondent housewife who’s never had to do much for herself and has never been on her own. Jean knows her husband Eddie leads a life of crime, but she doesn’t ask many questions and generally doesn’t seem bothered by it. Even when Eddie shows up one day and hands her a baby, she accepts the child just a little too easily. 

So when Eddie disappears and Jean is taken on the run, fearing for her own life and the life of her new child, she’s forced to figure some things out for herself pretty quickly.

It’s that journey that makes I’m Your Woman so compelling. Jean’s naivete shows throughout, but when she’s forced to do what she has to in order to survive, she does so with an ease that surprises even herself.

When an officer confronts her and Cal, Eddie’s friend who’s been sent to help her, assuming Jean is in danger from Cal because he’s a Black man, Jean lies to the officer to diffuse the situation and get them away — noting afterward that she didn’t know she could lie like that. It’s not a great lie, granted, which shows she still has plenty to learn, but the point is that she does what she has to in the moment.

As much as Jean is told by others what’s best for her and what she should do next, she only acts as a victim for so long. Sometimes that is to her detriment — her decisions aren’t always sound.

But after Cal disappears too, and his family shows up to help Jean and her baby, she refuses to wait around any longer. She and Cal’s wife Teri then take off on their own for what should be the most enjoyable part of the film.

I say should be, because much of this feels like a lost opportunity. We see the women working together and fighting their own battles to a point, but it’s a part of the film that could have been much richer. Instead, it feels a little glossed over, like many of the other details throughout the movie.

That said, it’s still largely the point. The women are central to this film, not the men. They’re the ones who take matters into their own hands and affect change. They aren’t helplessly waiting, and they support one another at every turn, even as they learn more about one another’s personal histories (where things get a bit more complicated). 

It’s not just the bond between those women, either. Jean finds comfort in other women throughout the film as well, including a couple of strangers in a laundromat.

It’s somehow one of the best scenes in the film, where Jean finds refuge from the pouring rain in a laundromat, only to then sit down and burst into tears.

A kind woman sitting next to her comforts her, not knowing anything about her, of course, but still telling her she’s going to be okay. Another woman comes over to cover to help her get dry, no one ever prying or treating her as though she’s hysterical. 

Jean’s journey throughout the film isn’t just about figuring out how to survive. It’s about figuring out who she is as a woman and as a mother. Because, again, she’s given a baby to care for out of the blue, and then finds herself on the run, taking care of that baby mostly alone very shortly after.

She names the baby Harry, and we come to understand why she couldn’t have a child of her own. She and Harry bond, but there’s more than one occasion where she does have to confront he’s not biologically hers. It’s another layer to the story that winds up making for interesting characters.

That said, some of the details, the relationships, and the bonding between Jean and Harry don’t work as well as they should. Much of the movie feels like it’s trying to scratch at the surface of something more, and we spend the first half of it waiting for everything to really begin.

There are many things we as an audience are never let in on, and the film is a bit slow-going until it reaches its climax. The characters, the setting, the mystery — it’s all intriguing and enjoyable to watch, but it feels like some pieces are missing. 

Symbolism and the small, quiet moments do set it apart, however, and the 1970s backdrop makes the whole thing fun to watch on its own. There’s also a significant payoff for sticking with it. The ending of the film is extremely satisfying in more ways than one.

It is, overall, a really thoughtful film, and the unique perspective and attention to detail, along with Rachel Brosnahan’s performance in this role, make it particularly special.

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What did you think of I’m Your Woman? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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I’m Your Woman is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

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