Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman

Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman (2006) is a six hour long documentary on what it means to be a "Modern Woman." (For so many reasons, I cringe whenever she says that) It covers issues deemed important to the modern woman such as sex, death, pregnancy, fertility, etc. It's about Jennifer Fox, a single, 42 year-old American filmmaker who lives in New York. Sounds pretty bad doesn't it? She also narrates in first person, in an annoying, story-telling tone, unsuited for anything but calming down mental patients.

I finished watching part one. From childhood, Fox vowed to not marry or have children, and instead, she would be free and travel the world. She kept that vow and lived the life she wanted but now, she finds herself unsatisfied. Through introspection and interviews with family, a lover, and friends, Fox ruminates on whether marriage and children are things she wants.

I don't like Fox as the subject. I realize the film is suppose to about her but she comes across as weirdly self-centered. She films herself reacting to a pregnancy test, she films herself phoning a lover, and so on. As in any documentary, but especially this six hour special, you know there must be piles of unused, unwatchable footage. Can you imagine going through reams of footage of only you talking to the camera? There are critics that have called her neurotic, her film as a mid-life crisis, and I can see some why.

Will I continue watching? For now, yes. Supposedly there are interviews with women around the world. I want so hear what they have to say.

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Nov. 5, 2009 Update:

I watched two more hours. It's a soap opera. Fox has a married lover in South Africa and a boyfriend in Sweden. The lover's wife finds out about the affair. Fox continues "interviewing" friends in France, South Africa and India on being a Modern Woman. I use quotations because it's mostly Fox whining to her friends and filming their advice on her two man situation.

It gets absurd. Fox goes to India to escape her guilt and whine about her love life. Parmita, an Indian human rights activist, bears the brunt of it. After a what-to-do session one night, Fox says, I should let you get back to work. A tired looking Parmita agrees and says she has alot of work to do. Fox's selfishness does not end at hindering an activist. She also bothers cancer patients. Fox visits a friend who is currently undergoing chemotherapy for ovarian cancer. Mercifully, this friend has just found love and her happy glow helps her endure Fox's redundant questions of what to do and who to choose.

Fox does admit that her problems are insignificant in comparison with her friends, but saying this doesn't make the film any less exhausting to watch.

It is really unbearable. Let me wrap up. At one point Fox decides she wants to have children and stops taking birth control. She tells the two men that contraception is their responsibility. Fox gets pregnant. That is the cliff hanger. There are still 3 more hours.

I just don't care.