The Masculine Mystique

The Masculine Mystique is a Canadian docufiction film, directed by Giles Walker and John N. Smith and released in 1984.[1]

The Masculine Mystique
Directed byGiles Walker
John N. Smith
Produced by
  • Giles Walker
  • David Wilson
Screenplay by
  • John N. Smith
  • Giles Walker
  • David Wilson
Starring
Music byRichard Gresko
CinematographyAndrew Kitzanuk
Edited byDavid Wilson
Production
company
Release date
23 August 1984
Running time
87 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish

The film centres on Alex (Sam Grana), Blue (Stefan Wodoslawsky), Mort (Mort Ransen) and Ashley (Ashley Murray), four men whose perspectives on the changing nature of men's sexual and romantic relationships with women in the wake of feminism are explored through both documentary "interviews" and narrative vignettes. Alex is a married father who is having an extramarital affair; Ashley is a single parent, recently separated from his wife but not ready to commit to a new relationship; Mort is a divorced man who is seeking a new relationship; Blue is a single man seeking the "perfect woman".[2]

The film was the first in the National Film Board of Canada's series of "alternative dramas" in the 1980s and early 1990s, which combined dramatic and documentary film techniques.[3] It was created and scripted through an improvisational process, with the film's characters being portrayed by National Film Board filmmakers and their family members rather than by professional actors.

The characters of Alex and Blue were subsequently spun off into the follow-up films 90 Days and The Last Straw, which explored Alex becoming a sperm donor and Blue entering a relationship with a Korean mail-order bride.[4] 90 Days was the most commercially and critically successful of the three films, garnering several Genie Award nominations.

References
  1. "Masculine Mystique, The". Canadian Film Online (Athabasca University.
  2. "Feminist movement changed men's lives; NFB film looks at how men deal with feminism". Montreal Gazette, May 8, 1985.
  3. Stukator, Angela (30 May 2013). "Pictures of age and ageing in Cynthia Scott's The Company of Strangers". In Eugene P. Walz (ed.). Canada's Best Features: Critical Essays on 15 Canadian Films. Rodopi. p. 239. ISBN 978-9042015982.
  4. "Comedy on artificial insemination travels in bizarre world". Kingston Whig-Standard, September 10, 1987.


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