My chosen topic is women and film with a specific look at the treatment of women directors using a case study on Jane Campion.

Graham Roberts (Key Film texts) says 'Even the small number of women working in mainstream Hollywood have found it hard to get regular work on major films. Looking at secondary research studies on the internet backs this up. The proportion of total days worked by women under Directors Guild of America contract in 2001 has fallen to 7.4% from 8.5% the previous year. Woman still face a tough struggle gaining acceptance in the industry after the Celluloid Ceiling study revealed that only 7% of the top 100 grossing films in 2000 were directed by a woman, e.g. Loser-Amy Heckerling, The Virgin suicides-Sofia Coppola and Boys don't Cry-Kimberley Pierce. The reason for this is that women directors such as Jane Campion and Kathryn Bigelow have huge gaps between filming. These statistics show that discrimination is not a thing of the past. However these statistics cannot be viewed on their own as further investigation would be needed to back up these findings.

Looking at case studies of female directors such as Nora Ephron and Jane Campion shows with the studios pigeonholing women directors into making 'chick flicks', many women directors today have to strive towards the production of 'big budget films' suitable for international audiences and very few make it to the top. Jane Campion, who directed 'The Piano', 'Portrait of a Lady', 'Holy Smoke' and the newly released 'In the Cut' to name a few, is one of the most successful high profile women film makers.

Jane Campion was the first woman to win the Palme D'or at the Cannes film festival for 'The Piano'. She was also one of two women to ever to nominate for the Best Director Oscar, in a 75 year history. However no woman has ever won the best director Oscar, so it seems that as soon as women reach a certain level the 'Celluloid Ceiling' gets raised again.

The range of research articles I came across on the internet confirmed many women directors encounter problems early on after breaking into the male dominated industry, in gaining recognition and financial backing. According to Gwendolyn Audrey Foster (Women film directors), 'Female figures in the lives of male directors, such as Kathryn Bigelow wife of James Cameron, and women who have already gained superstar status as actors, such as Jodie Foster and Barbara Streisand, are more likely to have their directorial aspirations realised and credited'. To find out whether this was true I examined the case study of Jane Campion, who does not have any famous directorial relations. Looking at a database of directors on www.senseofcinema.com, her directorial debut 'Sweetie' (1989) greeted with mixed reactions, led to problems with funding for 'the Piano' (1993). Although the script was funded through the Australian Film commission, Campion found that a controversial narrative meant that studios were unwilling to take a risk on an 'unconventional women's film'. She finally got funding on approaching a French Company, Ciby 2000, and was allowed to make her most successful film, critically and commercially earning $44,717,959 worldwide. Blonski (Don't shoot darling! Women's independent filmmaking in Australia) says 'Jane Campion is rapidly achieving auteur status'. In other words, the more renowned you are the more you are able to achieve. Because of this funding is more rapidly available to her with her last two films, Holy smoke (1999) an 'In the Cut' (2003) being financed by Miramax and Sony.

Looking at film reviews, I found there is a tendency for film analysts to imply that as a film is directed by a woman, it must be authored and structured from a feminine point of view. Laura Mulvey's (Visual and other pleasures) analysis of patriarchal codes of spectatorship suggests 'female directed films are structured around a 'female' gaze to construct a voyeuristic relationship between an assumed female spectator and d the passive male object of the gaze'. 'The Piano', written and directed by Jane campion makes use of the female gaze to create objects of desire in the male characters. In a scene where Ada undresses her husband, the camera lingers on his naked body, sexualising the male form. This technique, designed to show a women's point of view, is a reversal of mainstream movies using the male gaze to objectify women. By using this technique, Campion redistributes the power between the sexes, and according to Sue Thornham 'explores issues fundamental to feminist theory through mainstream film'.

According to Leslie Felperin, editor of Sight and Sound magazine, Jane Campion's films have 'a willingness to take extreme risks, to challenge, to question, to revolt'. This is true of her depiction of women. Nicole Kidman in 'Portrait of a Lady' is shown crying with her nose dribbling and in 'The Piano' and 'Sweetie', women are shown urinating. My primary research revealed to me that women found this 'gritty and realistic. It shows the women to be actual people with real flaws which make it easier to relate to the character'. Campion's unabiding heroine's to the conventional Hollywood image of feminine style and beauty proves that women directors have a clearer idea of what women want.

Although not every woman wants to make specifically female films, women are not considered 'suitable to handle the special effects laden, big blockbusters' by the studios. Even Kathryn Bigelow (K19) and Mimi Leder (Deep Impact) had difficulty in making the films they wanted to make. The is also a tendency for film criticism to view women directors who embrace the commercial practices of Hollywood filmmaking as less worthy in feminist terms then those who remain outside the mainstream. Joe Queenan from www.guardian.co.uk describes Campion's new film, 'In the Cut' an arty serial killer film involving the mutilation of women, as a genre which does not play well to Campion's strengths'. The film's explicit use of sex and violence, depicting a killer cutting of women's heads, often shocks in its unconventional realism and brutal honesty.

The results from my questionnaire just supported the views that I had previously gained from Jane Cussons and Debra Zimmerman. I found that not one person that had completed my questionnaire could name me three female directors. However I was surprised that 2 out of 5 males could name films directed by women compared with 1 out of 5 females that could do the same. This could be due to the fact that the film industry has always been viewed as male dominated, so more males then females have a specialist interest in it.

From the one on one interviews, with a male and a female, I found out there was a clear differentiation between what my participants expected from male directed films and female directed films. Male directed films were expected to be better constructed, epic stories with real life significance and depth. When asked why this was, the 40 year old male answered 'On awards shows, men are always shown making the films that win the best picture awards such as Beautiful Mind or Gladiator. Women directors seem to like making predictable films with romantic storylines'. Both male and female were surprised to learn many action movies were directed by women, e.g. 'Deep Impact' by Mimi Leder.

In an interview with Parkinson, Meg Ryan talked about her experiences on the set of her new film 'In the Cut'. She describes working with Campion vividly, 'I wasn't ready for Jane Campion, the director. Jane is a very strong minded and uncompromising artist who has a profound interest in investigation'. Meg Ryan has worked with many famous directors, and the respect she gives to Jane Campion shows that she is just as good as any of them.

As women directors are still rare, their gender is frequently used as a marketing tool in the selling of their films. I found even when the female director in question is not working with stereotypically 'feminine' material (Jane campion's In the Cut and Kathryn Bigelow's strange days), there is often a temptation to search for 'feminist' meanings within the context and attribute them to the director's gender. This leads to the question of whether a female directed film can ever be considered mainstream.

Leslie Felperin states 'most women want to be known as filmmakers first, women filmmakers second or none at all'. They want the opportunity to do the work and have their work valued in the same way as a man's work of equal quality. According to Linda serger (When women call the shots), 'Women generally don't want power in the traditional way, such as wanting power over others but that doesn't mean they don't want to be in leadership positions'. In a Stephen Applebaum interview with Jane Campion on www.bbc.co.uk, when talking about tough being a woman director is, she replied 'Women today are dealing with both their independence and also the fact that their lives are built around finding and satisfying the romantic models we grew up with'. Her personal views on women directors are 'To deny female directors, as I suspect is happening in the States, is to deny feminine vision'. With women directors earning $0.74 to every male $1, there is not equality yet, however progress is being made.

To address the problem of under representation of woman in the industry, a new mentoring scheme Directing Change was set up. This scheme allows two woman directors a year to work alongside an internationally recognised feature film director during a major production with Jane Campion and many other famous names signing up to be mentors. Although before change can take place, stereotypes about roles and status in the industry have to change, it is hoped that this is a step into recognising the work of aspiring women directors.

Overall I find that even though the treatment of women directors is improving, being considered equal to their male counterparts is a long way from being achieved. Gender will always be an obstacle for women everywhere but a number of those are jumping the hurdle, such as Jane Campion are increasing everywhere. In the end, one should not forget that my research was only the start. My sample was very small, the sampling procedure very small, thus generalisations would be unreasonable to make. None the less the research can be claimed valid since I tried to be objective, collected both quantitative and qualitative data and was able to compare my research to existing theories and evidence.