Movie Reviews

‘I’m Your Woman’ review: This superbly-acted, tense thriller is worth a watch

December 14, 2020

I sure do enjoy a tense thriller and I’m Your Woman sure does fit that bill. This new Amazon original 1970s thriller is admittedly a slow-burn. In the beginning, this may not come off as much, but as things move along, it proves to be an engrossing film that keeps you on the edge of your seat. While, the script does things mostly right and sets up a nice outline, this cast is simply outstanding and they’re the main reason this film is as good as it is. Is this film great? No. There are some flaws here, but luckily the good outweighs the bad.

Rachel Brosnahan gives a tour de force performance as a scared wife and mother on the run that’s trying to find her courage. Not only did I completely buy her as this woman but her performance brought me into I’m Your Woman and made me root for her. She makes you care about this woman and in every scene you’re right there with her – a truly great performance!

Marsha Stephanie Blake brings a sense of both toughness and empathy. You know that while she’s a good person at her core, she is prepared to do what’s necessary. These two women are for sure on a level all their own and while the rest of the cast is by no means bad, you come away remembering them. The script that I’m Your Woman has is mostly well done, with some things here and there that could’ve been stronger.

i'm your woman

What I do like about the structure that’s set up here is the way in which tension and suspense is created. I was impressed by how suspenseful many of the scenes are, many times I was just staring at the screen somewhat holding my breath and wondering what was going to unfold. Some may argue that this film starts off too slow or is boring for the first half, but I think things needed to start off relatively slow in order to build up this story and let us spend a bit of time with this main character. Something else this script handles exceedingly well is it’s main character Jean played by Brosnahan. The script lets us get to her know her which is honestly crucial in order for any of this to work. With this kind of a story, you can’t give me some thin main character that I don’t give a damn about. As far as the details of the plot go, I think the script does a lot right and also makes a couple missteps. I applaud the direction in which the story goes and I think they do some intriguing things here and at the same time, I think things could’ve been a tad tighter as far as story.

I think this is what makes this film good instead of great. The plot is not convoluted or impossible to follow, I just think it could have been tighter than it ended up being. Having said that, I did really like how they chose to wrap things up. The ending hands our main character a fantastic moment that is very satisfying. In addition to that moment of satisfaction surrounding Jean, there is also a very well done final scene that, I feel, captures the emotion of the final occurrences in the film perfectly. One of the big reasons why this works is that this isn’t just a thriller full of double crossers, there is just an average wife and mother in the middle of all this and that makes things feel very intense and emotional – and the ending plays off that in a smart way.

'I'm Your Woman' review: This superbly-acted, tense thriller is worth a watch

I’m Your Woman definitely deserves a watch, it is superbly acted and proves to be very tense and suspenseful. While this doesn’t quite reach the level of “great”, it’s still a well made satisfying film.