Ridley Scott here taps into a truly interesting character study-piece with Thelma and Louise, abandoning the world-building aesthetic of yore and instead focusing on two best friends, Thelma Dixon and Louise Sawyer (played by Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon) who drive away for the weekend on a fishing trip – away from Thelma’s chauvinistic husband and for much needed best friend time. Stopping by at a redneck bar, one occupant approaches Thelma in a creepily suggestive way and soon both occupy the dance floor. Unbeknown to Louise, the creep takes Thelma outside in her drunken state and proceeds to rape her before Louise holds him at gunpoint and saves Thelma from more trouble. After he shouts insults at them, Louise guns him down and then both have to stick together to drive and flee away from not only the law, who wants them detained, but also from the shackles of their past lives in the process.
Thelma and Louise as a character drama, is largely successful because of a such a great script provided by Callie Khouri, who did win the best original screenplay for the film. Both women have to deal with some really nasty characters and situations but throughout their journey, you see how they look out for each other and why they commit certain set pieces in the film in order to protect each other. Despite the fact that they are best friends, they are in effect chalk and cheese. Louise is a fiesty, tough, no-nonsense person but Thelma is someone who is not confident, easy-going and prone to be more open to people around her. In spite of this, they share a bond that makes them both unique and memorable characters, aided by the two actors who give them both weight and lasting appeal. The fact these characters are so well written at all is not only a testament to the script but also to Sarandon and Davis who embody their characters incredibly well.
Fully dimensional as they are is also due in part to the script allowing the characters to be vulnerable and human. One crucial scene has them both picking up a hitcher (played by then unknown Brad Pitt) by Thelma’s choice. Taken in by his charms, they all spend a night at a motel where Michael Madsen’s character, Louise’s boyfriend, turns up with money in tow. Meanwhile in one room the hitcher and Thelma spend the night before unknowingly being robbed of their money by him. Thelma effectively opens herself to him and in doing so is let down, but with that shows a fractured side to her that would eventually leave her to side entirely with Louise until the end. Such elements like these make the film an engaging drama that doesn’t rely on clichés although some parts of the film would become famously recognisable and repeated as a result.
The only criticisms I have are the ending and the detectives characters. Not much is given to those characters outside of just detaining the duo, aside from perhaps one scene over a phone conversation where Louise and Harvey Keitel’s cop detective character Hal have a back and forth of wits. The ending itself is one of the most famous endings of any film and with no description of it here, I felt like the film was at odds with actually how to end it properly. Even with the many interpretations and readings into why it went the way it did, it seemed to me that the script and direction ended on more of a frustrating note. As a great feminist story piece it succeeds at creating a brilliantly fully-dimensional and endearing duo whom you really want to ride along with them and also has a flowing pace, despite its two hour running time. The ending and other characters aside, it has gone on to be a great iconic film in female-led cinema and proves that Ridley Scott has more in him than just visual feats in cinema and can create characters very well.
4/5
Filmlife 