Melanie Bell & Melanie Williams 
British Women’s Cinema [PDF ebook] 

British Women’s Cinema examines the place of female-centred films throughout British film history, from silent melodrama and 1940s costume dramas right up to the contemporary British ‘chick flick’. The woman’s film has sometimes been regarded as a cuckoo-in-the-nest of a national cinema dominated by ideas of restraint and realism, but this collection of essays by leading scholars in the field sets out to demonstrate the central position in British cinema of films for and about women. Discussing an impressive variety of films, including The Tidal Wave, Love Story, Ladies in Lavender, Calendar Girls and Bend it like Beckham, contributors consider the importance of both female stars and female audiences in understanding the British woman’s film and engage in a lively dialogue with key themes such as class, community, domesticity, romance, sexuality, motherhood, friendship, ageing and female creative agency in British cinema.