Professor Marston and the Wonder Women (2017)

The story of psychologist William Moulton Marston, and his polyamorous relationship with his wife and their mistress who would inspire his creation of the superheroine, Wonder Woman.

Director:

Angela Robinson

Writer:

Angela Robinson

Stars:

Luke Evans, Rebecca Hall, Bella Heathcote

7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Luke Evans	...	William Moulton Marston
Rebecca Hall	...	Elizabeth Marston
Bella Heathcote	...	Olive Byrne
Connie Britton	...	Josette Frank
Monica Giordano	...	Mary
JJ Feild	...	Charles Guyette
Chris Conroy	...	Brant Gregory
Oliver Platt	...	M.C. Gaines
Maggie Castle	...	Dorothy Roubicek
Alexa Havins	...	Molly Stewart
Sharon Kubo	...	Kate
Allie Gallerani	...	Sara
Christopher Jon Gombos	...	Fred Stewart (as Chris Gombos)
Forry Buckingham	...	Doctor
Stacy Fischer	...	Linda

Storyline

Details the unconventional life of Dr. William Marston, the Harvard psychologist and inventor who helped invent the modern lie detector test and created Wonder Woman in 1941. Marston was in a polyamorous relationship with his wife Elizabeth, a psychologist and inventor in her own right, and Olive Byrne, a former student who became an academic. This relationship was key to the creation of Wonder Woman, as Elizabeth and Olive's feminist ideals were ingrained in the character from her creation. Marston died of skin cancer in 1947, but Elizabeth and Olive remained a couple and raised their and Marston's children together. The film is said to focus on how Marston dealt with the controversy surrounding Wonder Woman's creation.

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Plot Keywords:

comic book writer | taboo | wonder woman | sadomasochism | college professor | 

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Taglines:

Meet the women behind the man behind the woman.

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Genres:

Biography | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

R for strong sexual content including brief graphic images, and language.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 October 2017 (USA)

Also Known As:

El profesor Marston y la Mujer Maravilla

Filming Locations:

Lowell, Massachusetts, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$736,883, 15 October 2017, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$1,584,759, 20 November 2017

Company Credits

Production Co:

Opposite Field Pictures,Boxspring Entertainment,Stage 6 Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Marstons' life has been previously adapted into the 2014 play "Lasso of Truth", written by Carson Kreitzer. The characters of Olive Byrne, Elizabeth Marston and William Moulton Marston were credited as "Amazon", "Wife" and "Inventor" respectively. The play premiered at the Marin Theatre Company in San Francisco.

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Goofs

A major scene early in the movie takes place in a Radcliffe College sorority. Radcliffe, which was later absorbed into Harvard University, never had sororities. Harvard has had fraternities. Theodore Roosevelt, for one, was in a fraternity at Harvard. Also, in, e.g., The Social Network, they discuss a Jewish fraternity at Harvard.

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Quotes

Elizabeth Marston: Will you stop apologizing? Do you know how many times a minute you apologize?
Olive Byrne: Sorry.

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Crazy Credits

Photos of real-life William Marston, his wife Elizabeth, and Olive Byrne are shown at the end of the movie.

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Connections

Referenced in Midnight Screenings: Professor Marston and the Wonder Women (2017)

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Soundtracks

Feeling Good
Written by Anthony Newley & Leslie Bricusse
Performed by Nina Simone
Courtesy of The Verve Music Group
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User Reviews

This is squalid fiction masquerading as documentary.

This film is a shallow and inaccurate depiction of someone's fantasy. It has little to do with Dr. Marston's life and the creation of Wonder Women. For a well researched history of this topic see Jill Lepore's work, The Secret History of Wonder Women.

Wikipedia says, "In an interview with Mark Walters, William Moulton Marston's granddaughter Christie Marston stated that the film is historically inaccurate. She said that the creators of the film did not contact her family and that the "depiction of the family and Wonder Woman's origins are made up". She also posted a statement on Twitter saying that "the film is not a true story. It is based on someone's imagination not in any way related to my family." In another interview with Rob Salkowitz for Forbes, Marston argues against two aspects of the film. The first lies in the depiction of the Elizabeth and Olive: "The relationship between Gram, Elizabeth Marston, and Dots, Olive Byrne, is wrong; they were as sisters, not lovers." The second part revolves around the depiction of the origin of Wonder Woman, which has "William Moulton Marston presenting an idea for a female hero, and Elizabeth nay saying the idea, declaring that nobody would ever publish it." Christie Marston states instead that when her grandfather was asked by his publisher to create a comic character, he "went home and discussed it with my grandmother. She said to go ahead and do it, but that it had to be a woman." Marston further elaborates on Elizabeth and Olive by stating that she spent a lot of time with her open-minded grandmother who never gave indication to her of a relationship with Olive. She also states that Elizabeth and Olive continued to share the responsibilities for bringing up the four children in the household after Marston's death because it was economically viable for both women. Christie Marston repeated and elaborated upon these statements in an op-ed for the Hollywood Reporter.

It is appalling to me that someone would capitalize on the revolutionary work done by Dr. Marston and misrepresent it so badly.