Release CalendarTop 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV News
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsABFFPride MonthOutfest OutfrontsSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • All
  • Titles
  • TV Episodes
  • Celebs
  • Companies
  • Keywords
  • Advanced Search
Watchlist
Sign In
Sign In
New Customer? Create account
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
IMDbPro

The Woodmans

  • 2010
  • Unrated
  • 1h 22m
IMDb RATING
6.9/10
672
YOUR RATING
The Woodmans (2010)
DocumentaryBiography

The story of a family that suffers a tragedy, but perseveres and finds redemption through each other and their work - making art.The story of a family that suffers a tragedy, but perseveres and finds redemption through each other and their work - making art.The story of a family that suffers a tragedy, but perseveres and finds redemption through each other and their work - making art.

  • Director
    • Scott Willis
  • Stars
    • Francesca Woodman
    • George Woodman
    • Betty Woodman
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    6.9/10
    672
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Scott Willis
    • Stars
      • Francesca Woodman
      • George Woodman
      • Betty Woodman
    • 11User reviews
    • 33Critic reviews
    • 74Metascore
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 2 wins & 2 nominations

    Photos

    Add photo

    Top cast

    Edit
    Francesca Woodman
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    George Woodman
    • Self
    Betty Woodman
    • Self
    Charles Woodman
    • Self
    • (as Charlie Woodman)
    Patricia Sawin
    • Self Francesca's childhood friend
    Edwin Frank
    • Self Francesca's childhood friend
    Sloan Rankin
    • Self Francesca's classmate at RISD
    Catherine Chermayeff
    • Self Francesca's classmate at RISD
    Sabina Mirri
    • Self Francesca's model
    Benjamin
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    Glenn Palmer-Smith
    • Self Former Photographers' representative
    Robert Kushner
    • Self Artist
    Alexander Woodman
    • Self
    Andrea Woodman
    • Self
    • Director
      • Scott Willis
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    More like this

    Peppermint Soda
    7.0
    Peppermint Soda
    The Witches
    6.0
    The Witches
    The Bandit
    6.8
    The Bandit
    The Jackie Robinson Story
    6.3
    The Jackie Robinson Story
    Along for the Ride
    6.7
    Along for the Ride
    Boom for Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat
    6.7
    Boom for Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat
    The Woodman
    The Woodman
    Fallen Champ: The Untold Story of Mike Tyson
    7.0
    Fallen Champ: The Untold Story of Mike Tyson
    State Fair
    6.7
    State Fair
    Gasman
    7.0
    Gasman
    Top of the Heap
    6.3
    Top of the Heap
    Chameleon Street
    7.0
    Chameleon Street

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Quotes

      Francesca Woodman: Real things don't frighten me - just the ones in my mind do.

    User reviews11

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    5/10
    What Lies Beneath, A Mystery.
    This strange documentary summarizes the lives of avant garde photographer Francesca Woodman and her artistic parents Betty and George. We know from the beginning that Francesca commits suicide and so we're alert to clues. Why do people commit suicide? It's very difficult to know, really, but in some cases we're able to see glaring contradictions in a person's family dynamic. The movie is mostly interviews with the parents. The mom, Betty, in particular, presents a strange and forbidding presence, goggling through thick brightly painted glasses, she seems arrogant and fragile at the same time. A narcissist, of course, but aren't most artists narcissistic?

    A major clue is revealed near the beginning of the interview where the mom declares that she has dedicated her life to art and that she couldn't imagine living with a person who wasn't an artist, "I would come to hate that person!" she states. reveling her prejudice and intolerance for non-artists.

    The mother's art is mediocre at best, large pottery shapes splotched with crude patterns in primary colors. Perhaps the mother envied the daughter's obvious talent for visual expression.

    Most suicides by youngsters are the result of them feeling intolerably pressured by their parents' expectations. In Francesca's case there was a unquestioned directive: be an artist...or else! Francesca created her own style of art: pictures of her own, very attractive, nude body posed against shabby, desiccated interiors or wrapped in old wallpaper. The photographs, many of which are shown in the film, are stark, compelling and ironic. She was obviously very talented. She achieved some notice as a photographer, an artist in her own right, but as any artist must she experienced moments of self doubt. Since Francesca's expression was primarily visual and enigmatic her inarticulate diary excerpts, though quoted throughout, provide little insight into what she was going through. In any case her narrow though striking artistic style was bound to run our of new ideas, being so restricted in subject matter.

    At some point Francesca thinks about giving up art and suggests maybe trying another course in life. Her mother is quick to put a stop to that: "That was ridiculous, of course; I told her, 'You can't DO anything else.'" I can only speculate, but the clues are pretty obvious. The talented but unhappy daughter must continue with a course that even she can recognize is a dead end, or face the hatred of her mother. Her therapist, a necessary accessory to people of that class, is useless, and her father, whose art is not at all bad, is a passive participant in the family drama.

    As a whole the film is a downer like a slow-moving train wreck. It showcases Francesca's photography and is a sort of introduction to her work, but the intrusion of the parents, who may have been the motivation behind her success and eventually her downfall, is unwelcome except to provide clues to the mystery of her life and death. This film is just too long, it could have expressed the same material in half the time.
    helpful•23
    10
    • celr
    • Jul 10, 2012

    Top picks

    Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations
    Sign in

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • January 18, 2011 (United States)
    • Countries of origin
      • United States
      • China
      • Italy
    • Official sites
      • ITVS (United States)
      • Lorber Films (United States)
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Los Woodmans
    • Filming locations
      • San Francisco, California, USA
    • Production companies
      • C. Scott Films
      • ITVS International
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $46,623
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $5,874
      • Jan 23, 2011
    • Gross worldwide
      • $46,623
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 22 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
      • Black and White
    • Sound mix
      • Stereo
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.78 : 1 / (high definition)

    Related news

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    The Woodmans (2010)
    Top Gap
    By what name was The Woodmans (2010) officially released in Canada in English?
    Answer
    • See more gaps
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit page

    More to explore

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Get the IMDb App
    Sign in for more accessSign in for more access
    • Get the IMDb App
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • IMDb Developer
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Your Ads Privacy Choices
    IMDb, an Amazon company

    © 1990-2023 by IMDb.com, Inc.