Female Driven

To quote Lady Gaga during her House of Gucci press rounds: "We don't believe in the glorification of murder. We do believe in the empowerment of women." That's right, passengers! In this episode, we're covering the 2002 major motion picture musical, Chicago! (Cue jazz hands.) Topics include: embarrassing/life-changing movie theater experiences, the iconic 2003 Academy Awards' Best Actress lineup,...

Greetings, passengers! Rachael and Emily have been a waiting a long time to cover this 2002 masterpiece. Starring the Holy Trinity of actresses, Meryl (God), Nicole (Jesus) and (Julianne), it's The Hours! Get ready for breathtaking closeups of women looking in mirrors, Philip Glass' iconic score, and a Kath and Kim reference to end all others.

Hello again, after quite a hiatus! Emily couldn't resist gleaning Rachael's thoughts on the modern masterpiece and timeless love story, Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) , brought to us by writer/director Celine Sciamma, with a cast including Adèle Haenel, Noémie Merlant, Luàna Bajrami, and Valeria Golino. Happy Valentine's Day, passengers!

Kristen, Emily and Rachael were on ground zero during the Twilight phenomenon of the mid-to-late aughts. Join us on this meandering foray into the first of the Twilight movies saga! We talk Kristen Stewart, Catherine Hardwicke, Robert Pattinson, the film's inherent Mormon-ism, and a whole lotta wigs! Buckle your seatbelts, passengers...we're headed to Forks!

Howdy, passengers! 'Tis the season for Mamma Mia and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants! This episode was a lot of fun to record, in good part because Rachael doesn't like musicals (but does like ABBA). We try to decide which of the Pants girls each one of us is, and go down a Gilmore Girls rabbit hole. Fasten your seatbelts! We hope you enjoy this as much as Meryl seemed to enjoy bouncing on t...

What more can be said about Titanic? Hopefully Kiki, Rachael and Emily provide some entertaining commentary on James Cameron's 1997 magnum opus, starring Kate Winslet (insert heart eyes) and Leonardo DiCaprio! Buckle in!

Are you ready for your soul douche? Join Emily, Kiki and Rachael in a lively discussion of the delightful 2021 comedy Barb and Star Go To Vista Del Mar, written by and starring Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumulo. Fasten your seatbelts - this one's a real tit-flapper!

Happy Carol Season!!! I was thrilled to have Murtada Elfadl as my guest on this, the final episode of our Carol Trilogy. Murtada is a culture writer and critic for Variety and The A.V. Club, a programmer for NewFest and DOC NYC, and certified Cate Blanchett super fan...making him the perfect person to extol the virtues of Carol! We spend a fun-filled hour discussing the elements that make this mov...

Happy Carol Season! We're back with part two of the Ballad of Aird and Belivet. In this episode, our two leading ladies embark on the romance of the midcentury, heading west to Waterloo in Carol's 1949 Packard. We glory in the glamor, the drama, and the unabashed romanticism of the visual storytelling and the wonderful performances of Mara and Blanchett, and swoon over one of the best movie ending...

There's no point in trying to contain our excitement, y'all...it's Carol Season! Join Emily and Rachael in part 1 of our Carol celebration. In this episode, we cover the incredible story behind this gorgeous film, gush over its beautiful score, costuming and cinematography, and praise the performances of Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchett as Therese Belivet and Carol Aird (Emily in particular freaks o...

We're back! And right in time for Halloween, with another cult queer and feminist classic - Nicholas Ray and Joan Crawford's 1954 Trucolor Western, Johnny Guitar! This movie is everything. Join Emily with Scott and Pete from the Movies That Made Us Gay podcast to celebrate everything - from the character name "Vienna" (no last name) to Joan Crawford's makeup to Mercedes McCambridge's wonderfully u...

The year 2009 gave us many gifts, not the least of which included: low rise jeans, midriff baring hoodies, and Jennifer's Body. Join Kristen and Emily in their discussion of aughts fashion, Megan Fox, and the pre-MeToo landscape of this feminist horror-comedy, brought to you by writer Diablo Cody and director Karyn Kusama. Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bloody night!

Surprise, Passengers! We're back (and not a moment too soon) for season two of Female Driven podcast. Come ring in the spooky season with Kristen, Emily, and favorite guest Rachael with Alejandro Amenábar's 2001 horror masterpiece, The Others! Join us as we fan out over Nicole Kidman's pitch perfect performance/ mother vibes and the generally exquisite atmosphere of this haunting gothic tale.

All aboard! We're here with the final installment in our Summer of Judy series - the gorgeous and delightful Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)! On this episode, special guests Scott and Pete from Movies That Made Us Gay podcast celebrate this quintessential Judy masterpiece from start to finish. Highlights include the Trolley song, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, and the truly unhinged Halloween...

Greetings, Passengers! This week Emily welcomes special guest cohost, resident ginger, and childhood bestie of 25 years! (We love you, Rachael!) The gals indulge in some nineties nostalgia while covering Nancy Meyers' beloved 1998 remake of The Parent Trap. Much time is spent reminiscing on childhoods spent in Michigan's rural Upper Peninsula, the joy and trauma of adolescence, and the many deligh...

Have you ever longed for something more? A place you can't get to by a boat or a train? Behind the moon? Beyond the rain? Today you're in luck, because we're going over the rainbow with our beloved Judy! In this episode, we cover the timeless masterpiece and most-watched film of all time - The Wizard of Oz. We spend most of our time discussing the complicated production history of the movie, the s...

Welcome to a Female Driven Summer of Judy! We launch our Judy Garland celebration with the 1946 under-appreciated classic, The Harvey Girls. To say that Judy is an American icon and one of the greatest triple-threat entertainers in Hollywood history is a massive understatement. Her beauty and talents are luminous, and the numbers and costumes in this golden age MGM musical are to die for! (One Mis...

The category is WIGS! (And faces). This episode is dedicated to some of our favorite movie wigs, costumes and overall lewks . Incidental topics include Asian representation, vampires, and whether on not you can be both a Brontë AND an Austen bitch. (Answer: yes. Get you a girl who can do both.)

Greetings, listeners! We're so happy that you're here to join us after a brief hiatus. Kristen is back in peak Kiki form, and we couldn't be happier to present this episode on the gorgeous 2016 documentary "The Eagle Huntress," featuring our amazing friend Bolor Lkhaajav! From the Sony Classics synopsis: "The Eagle Huntress follows Aisholpan, a 13-year-old girl, as she trains to become the first f...

Can it be 2023? We hope, Dear Listeners, that you rang in the New Year with much joy and festivity! Shall we celebrate with part two of Emily's recording with the wonderful Audrey and Laurel of Sapphic Culture Club? In this episode we discuss (you guessed it) Céline Sciamma and Adèle Haenel once more! Our topic this time is Céline's first feature, the 2007 coming-of-age drama Water Lilies (French...

Dearest listeners - we were SO excited to have Laurel and Audrey from Sapphic Culture Club (originally Podcast of a Lady on Fire) as our first guests on Female Driven! We recorded for 2 hours, so I've decided to split our recording into two episodes. In this episode, we talk about the origin of Podcast of a Lady on Fire and its evolution into Sapphic Culture Club and - of course - Portrait of a La...

Ready for some more Portrait goodness? We recorded this segment months ago, shortly after we finished our epic 3-hour discussion of the film Portrait of a Lady on Fire. Here, we cover the impact the movie has had on pop culture - its devoted fanbase, a very funny SNL sketch, and memes that have arisen out of the collective imagination of Portrait Nation! With hope, dear listeners, that you have no...

What is Diana: The Musical? Why is Diana: The Musical? We discuss this and more in this very campy, very goofy episode. Enjoy our reflections on the legend that is Princess Diana, America's obsession with the British royal family, Meghan Markle's iconic Oprah interview, and our comparison of this musical to the (much better) Evita. The audio quality is a little rough in this one (sorry!) but we ha...

We're back with part two of our Portrait series! In this episode we ask: what are the components of desire? Watch and listen as The Longing™ and The Gazing™ intensifies between our young heroines, Marianne and Héloïse. Swoon and sigh with us over some of the most romantic exchanges we've ever witnessed on the big screen! References to the controversial love scene between Rachel Weisz and Rachel Mc...

“Portrait of a Lady on Fire is a lot of things, and one of those things is definitely a story of forbidden love between two perfect pairs of eyebrows.” - @joereid’s Letterboxd review of this movie Je vous salue, mes amis! This episode is part one of our Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) mini-series. Directed by Sapphic genius Céline Sciamma and starring the equally amazing Adèle Haenel and Noémie...