Thelma & Louise (Blu-ray Review)

While news outlets scramble amongst themselves to be the first to publish a new interview with Ridley Scott about his latest epic, Napoleon. Criterion have been planning a re-release of one of his classics.

There is an unlikely pairing of Ridley Scott with this story, a true feminist one. Unlike Alien‘s Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), Thelma & Louise (Geena Davis & Susan Sarandon) were both written as women. While Ripley faces the hardships of working with a team of people with opposing ideals, she never has to worry that they do not respect her for her sex. This difference makes Thelma & Louise a surprising watch. A #MeToo movie 25 plus years before we knew what one was. Getting right to the heart of what women face in modern society.

Perhaps the most surprising thing about it is that for many of us, nothing has really changed. One assumes that now, an American female director would be attached to such a project. However, the very British Scott's masterful control of what we see on screen lends itself wonderfully to a story about those who are separate to the control of their surroundings. Rooted in Americana, both of our heroines dress in denim, listen to country music, and drive a Ford Thunderbird along the wide roads that cut through the desert states. There is a wonder in seeing a new landscape for these previously isolated and neglected women. They do not take the landscape for granted; for them, everything they are doing is taking them further into a new world.

Unfortunately, this world isn't a friendly one. Their first stop takes them to a bar where after an enjoyable evening of dancing, a male patron attempts to rape Thelma. Louise kills the would be rapist and this triggers a road trip a little different to the one they had planned.

Both women grow and change. Louise, hardened by years of waitressing and a historical trauma softens with time, while Thelma turns from a wistful naïve housewife to someone who robs convenience stores for much needed cash. They are joined by some wonderful actors, Brad Pitt in one of his earliest roles, perhaps in the one that typecast him as Hollywood's pretty boy but he is perfect in the part. Harvey Keitel as perhaps the most nuanced police officer we've seen in American cinema, and Michael Madsen as Louise's tolerant but still at times controlling boyfriend. Some comedy is provided in Christopher McDonald's Darryl, Thelma's feckless ass of a husband.

The ending is iconic by now of course. Few people go into a first watch without knowing exactly where the two heroines end up. But the journey is what matters. The ability of a film to fully encompass the extent of female friendships. Not just someone to drink with, they will genuinely help each other hide the bodies, they are each other's ride or die, they are to each other what both of their partners could never be.

Thelma & Louise is a timeless, beautiful and infinitely enjoyable slice of feminist Americana. Regardless of whether you know how it ends, it's a journey that is always worth taking again.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED 4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

Thelma & Louise joins The Criterion Collection on director approved 4K and Blu-ray on the 29th of January