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20th Century Women

  • 20162016
  • RR
  • 1h 59m
IMDb RATING
7.3/10
45K
YOUR RATING
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • IMDbPro
Annette Bening, Billy Crudup, Elle Fanning, Greta Gerwig, and Lucas Jade Zumann in 20th Century Women (2016)
Trailer for 20th Century Women
Play trailer2:22
9 Videos
99+ Photos
  • Comedy
  • Drama
The story of a teenage boy, his mother, and two other women who help raise him among the love and freedom of Southern California of 1979.The story of a teenage boy, his mother, and two other women who help raise him among the love and freedom of Southern California of 1979.The story of a teenage boy, his mother, and two other women who help raise him among the love and freedom of Southern California of 1979.
IMDb RATING
7.3/10
45K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Mike Mills
  • Writer
    • Mike Mills
  • Stars
    • Annette Bening
    • Elle Fanning
    • Greta Gerwig
Top credits
  • Director
    • Mike Mills
  • Writer
    • Mike Mills
  • Stars
    • Annette Bening
    • Elle Fanning
    • Greta Gerwig
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 131User reviews
    • 233Critic reviews
    • 83Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 1 Oscar
      • 13 wins & 73 nominations total

    Videos9

    20th Century Women
    Trailer 2:22
    20th Century Women
    20th Century Women
    Trailer 2:16
    20th Century Women
    20th Century Women | Official Trailer HD | A24
    Trailer 2:14
    20th Century Women | Official Trailer HD | A24
    20th Century Women Trailer
    Trailer 1:50
    20th Century Women Trailer
    Menstruation
    Clip 1:57
    Menstruation
    Annette Elle Car
    Clip 2:05
    Annette Elle Car
    Are You Happy
    Clip 1:08
    Are You Happy
    Black Flag
    Clip 1:50
    Black Flag
    Oscar Nominee Saoirse Ronan's Top 3 Greta Gerwig Films
    Video 1:36
    Oscar Nominee Saoirse Ronan's Top 3 Greta Gerwig Films

    Photos228

    Annette Bening and Lucas Jade Zumann in 20th Century Women (2016)
    Greta Gerwig in 20th Century Women (2016)
    Annette Bening and Billy Crudup in 20th Century Women (2016)
    Billy Crudup in 20th Century Women (2016)
    Annette Bening in 20th Century Women (2016)
    Elle Fanning and Lucas Jade Zumann in 20th Century Women (2016)
    Elle Fanning in 20th Century Women (2016)
    Annette Bening, Elle Fanning, and Greta Gerwig in 20th Century Women (2016)
    Annette Bening, Billy Crudup, Elle Fanning, Greta Gerwig, and Lucas Jade Zumann in 20th Century Women (2016)
    Greta Gerwig and Lucas Jade Zumann in 20th Century Women (2016)
    Annette Bening and Lucas Jade Zumann in 20th Century Women (2016)
    Annette Bening, Elle Fanning, and Greta Gerwig in 20th Century Women (2016)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Annette Bening
    Annette Bening
    • Dorothea Fieldsas Dorothea Fields
    Elle Fanning
    Elle Fanning
    • Julie Hamlinas Julie Hamlin
    Greta Gerwig
    Greta Gerwig
    • Abbie Porteras Abbie Porter
    Billy Crudup
    Billy Crudup
    • Williamas William
    Lucas Jade Zumann
    Lucas Jade Zumann
    • Jamie Fieldsas Jamie Fields
    Alison Elliott
    Alison Elliott
    • Julie's Motheras Julie's Mother
    Thea Gill
    Thea Gill
    • Gail Porteras Gail Porter
    Vitaly Andrew LeBeau
    • Young Jamie Fieldsas Young Jamie Fields
    • (as Vitaly A. Lebeau)
    Olivia Hone
    • Julie's Sisteras Julie's Sister
    Waleed Zuaiter
    Waleed Zuaiter
    • Charlieas Charlie
    Curran Walters
    Curran Walters
    • Mattas Matt
    Darrell Britt-Gibson
    Darrell Britt-Gibson
    • Julianas Julian
    Alia Shawkat
    Alia Shawkat
    • Trishas Trish
    Nathalie Love
    Nathalie Love
    • Cindyas Cindy
    Cameron Protzman
    Cameron Protzman
    • Teen in Therapyas Teen in Therapy
    Victoria Bruno
    • Teen in Therapyas Teen in Therapy
    John Billingsley
    John Billingsley
    • Abbie's OBGYNas Abbie's OBGYN
    Cameron Gellman
    Cameron Gellman
    • Markas Mark
    • Director
      • Mike Mills
    • Writer
      • Mike Mills
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
    • All cast & crew

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      During rehearsals, the cast was encouraged to bring in music they believed their characters listened to. Then, to encourage familiarity among the cast, there would be a dance party where the only rule was that everyone had to dance and it didn't matter what the song was.
    • Goofs
      Dorothea is variously depicted discussing her stock portfolio with her son Jamie, quoting NYSE share prices in decimals, doing this in 1979. However, the switch to decimal from fractional stock prices in the U.S. did not occur until the year 2000.
    • Quotes

      Dorothea: Wondering if you're happy is a great shortcut to just being depressed.

    • Connections
      Featured in WatchMojo: Top 10 Movies of 2016 Already Getting Oscar Buzz (2016)
    • Soundtracks
      Don't Worry About the Government
      Written by David Byrne

      Performed by Talking Heads

      Courtesy of Sire Records

      By arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing

    User reviews131

    Review
    Top review
    8/10
    Life in fast motion
    20th Century Women isn't about giving us some epic look at a group of friends or a family, but it is about the passage of time with people who are warm and caring and in a genuine way. Mike Mills isn't a saccharine filmmaker, but he also doesn't shy away from sentiment - I always have to point out this is separate from sentimentality - and the feeling that I came away with from the comedy 20th Century Women is this warmth from all of the characters, and this feeling that I know these people, whether I did or didn't (and I actually did in the sense that, at times, the mother and son were me and my mom for a short period of my teenage years, so there's an authenticity just there to me).

    There's so much empathy for everyone here that it adds to the authenticity of the emotions, even for Greta Gerwig's Abbie who is, in essence, another 'Greta Gerwig' character like I've seen, or think I've seen, in other movies (her quirky wisdom seems akin to last year's Mistress America at least). While she is my least favorite person in this movie, she's given a history and many moments, surrounding one of those terrible things that happens to people and there's not much to be done about it, or could've, it's out of the hands of anything *to* be done. There's so much work done on the characters here by Mills, getting us to like them despite all of their flaws or those moments where they don't act with logic or sense, that it doesn't matter that there isn't too much of a story. This is the story of these characters in a short span of time while also, as if looking on from some other, ethereal plane, about what this time meant in the context of what came before 1979, and what was to come.

    Among the actors here, Lucas Jade Zumann is the breakout star as the 15 year old Jamie, but I was so taken with Benning and Fanning as the 50-ish, "she was in the depression" as she's described mother and the 2 years older than Jamie but that matters so much pleutonic friend respectively. I wonder if the film would've worked with any other actors in the roles, but really I can't imagine anyone else. Every time Bening's on screen she gives Dorothea this feeling of 'well... I guess this is happening now, what do I do about it, I'm not sure', and while she can get angry or concerned she's never one to go too over the top - this is the anti-Fences in that regard of being about a kid scarred by a parent - she does care about what happens to her son, with the "inciting incident" in screen writing terms being him almost dying from doing one of those dumb-s*** things teenagers do on a dare. It's a unique and subtle performance, filled with a sense of... questioning, uncertainty, which is harder to pull off than it looks.

    Fanning, meanwhile, is also having to underplay, which is good to see. This is an impressive year for her between this, Live by Night (which she was the best part of) and the Neon Demon, and she's different in all of them. I want to say I like the work she does here the most even as (or because) it's the least likable one among the bunch (and keep in mind she's a born-again Christian in the South in LbN). Mills's writing provides Fanning a great deal to make Julie come alive, but I found her not saying things, the way she shows Jamie how to hold a cigarette, when she is saying little, and then when she is backed into doing something that she should want to do but doesn't go for - going past being 'just friends' with Jamie in the last third - how she responds is devastating. It's like, 'no, don't act this way', as opposed to simply looking at her as a "B"-word, which is how a hackier writer could've gone with it.

    Oh, and I must reiterate this is a comedy, and it's funny as hell. There's certainly some dramatic stretches, but Mills mines a lot of humor out of generational splits - Bening's face as she hears early Black Flag, and then trying to "move" to it with Billy Crudup, is one of the funniest things this year - and it's a tricky balance that Mills finds between making the feminism (yes, actual literature and quotes spoken in voice-over from essays) serious AND humorous. We don't doubt that the feminism of the characters is pure, but there's also that question that's posed: how much is really appropriate, or can be legitimately understood, by 15 year old who barely knows who he is in this world?

    And on top of this Mills is having fun and some daring as a filmmaker, using psychedelic colors to show cars driving at times, and going not for the slow-motion but fast-motion speed, but not for comedy - the aesthetic point matches up with what the movie's about: life moves too fast, and we have to try and keep up with it best as we can and grow with things and become better people as everything moves too quickly. If it's ultimately too episodic to be anything really great or up to be there with the very best this year, I'd still tell anyone who likes smart character independent(ish) movies centered on teenagers and adults to see it immediately; it has a good place alongside The Squid and the Whale and, to a less taboo extent, Diary of a Teenage Girl.
    helpful•55
    24
    • Quinoa1984
    • Jan 14, 2017

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • January 20, 2017 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Official sites
      • A24 Films
      • Official Facebook
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Twentieth Century Women
    • Filming locations
      • East Beach, Santa Barbara, California, USA
    • Production companies
      • A24
      • Annapurna Pictures
      • Modern People
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $7,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $5,664,764
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $111,200
      • Jan 1, 2017
    • Gross worldwide
      • $7,214,806
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 59 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.00 : 1

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