From Demi Moore to Renee Zellweger, how midlife female actors are reclaiming Hollywood's spotlight
They're playing parts that see them embracing and asserting their age, shaking up norms and embodying a Hollywood revival that's redefining the place of midlife women in the movies
Demi Moore, Renée Zellweger and Nicole Kidman (left to right). Demi Moore, Renée Zellweger and Nicole Kidman (left to right).
Image: Mubi Deutschland / StudioCanal / Constantin Film / Niko Tavernise©
From Renée Zellweger and Demi Moore to Nicole Kidman and Pamela Anderson, many headline female stars of the 1990s and 2000s are making a remarkable comeback on the silver screen. And they aren't just taking on any old roles. They're playing parts that see them embracing and asserting their age, shaking up norms and embodying a Hollywood revival that's redefining the place of midlife women in the movies. These are deep, complex roles, asserting the experience and life choices of older women.
Related stories
More than 20 years after the last "Bridget Jones" film, Renée Zellweger is back in the role of cinema's most famous singleton. In “Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy,” released in the US on streaming service Peacock on February 13, the actress steps back into her role as the endearing heroine, still searching for the perfect love match after the death of Mark Darcy. Now 52 and the mother of two children, Bridget Jones explores new love dynamics, enjoying relationships with men younger than herself.
Renée Zellweger is not the only female star currently playing a mature woman seduced by a younger man. In the erotic thriller “Baby Girl,” Nicole Kidman takes on a similar role. She plays an influential businesswoman dissatisfied with her sex life with her husband, despite her comfortable lifestyle. She finds solace in her young intern, with whom she begins a sordid affair that jeopardizes her personal and professional lives. Halina Reijn's movie explores the sexuality of mature women, and their disappointments when it comes to their most carnal desires, all with no taboos.
While Hollywood has often portrayed love stories between men and younger women, a new trend now seems to be turning the tables, with scenarios that reverse this dynamic. Now it's mature women who are reclaiming their power and freedom, whether sexual or otherwise.
In Pedro Almodóvar's “The Room Next Door,” out in January, Tilda Swinton plays a woman with cancer, wishing to end her life to avoid suffering. The drama looks back on her brilliant career as a photojournalist, without toning down her role as a mother with little involvement in her own daughter's life. The Spanish filmmaker's feature film gives pride of place to women and their life choices, even when it to comes to death. It gives full control back to women, without confining them to the role of mother.
