Shirley – Visions of reality

The film tells the story of a woman. A woman in America in the 30s, 40s, 50s, and early 60s. A woman who attempts to influence the course of history with her professional and socio-political involvement. A woman who doesn’t accept the reality around her as given but rather a made up and changeable construct. A woman who works as an actress and is used to staging reality, portraying realness and is therefore able to question and shape it herself. A woman who doesn’t strive for solo success as an actress or stardom in the future but feels like part of a collective aspiring to give social potency to theater. A woman who can’t identify with the dominant role model of the concept of a wife yet longs to have a life partner. A woman who doesn’t compromise in moments of professional crisis and isn’t afraid to take on menial jobs to secure her livelihood. A woman who in a moment of private crisis decides to stick to her partner and puts her own professional interest on the back burner. A woman who is furious with political repression yet doesn’t resign in despair and who has nothing but disdain for betrayal. An attractive, charismatic, committed, emancipated woman.