Professor Marston & the Wonder Women
Biopic on Dr. William Marston, the psychologist and inventor who created Wonder Woman. Stars Luke Evans (Beauty and the Beast), Rebecca Hall (Iron Man 3) and Bella Heathcote (The Neon Demon).
The true story of what inspired Harvard psychologist Dr. William Moulton Marston to create the iconic Wonder Woman character in the 1940s. While Marston’s feminist superhero was criticised by censors for her ‘sexual perversity’, he was keeping a secret that could have destroyed him. Marston’s muses for the Wonder Woman character were his wife Elizabeth Marston and their lover Olive Byrne, two empowered women who defied convention: working with Marston on human behaviour research while building a hidden life with him that rivaled the greatest of superhero disguises.
- Director:
- Angela Robinson ('Herbie Fully Loaded', 'D.E.B.S.', TV's 'The L Word')
- Writer:
- Angela Robinson
- Cast:
- Luke EvansRebecca HallBella HeathcoteConnie BrittonOliver PlattJJ FeildMaggie CastleAllie Gallerani
Reviews & comments
Flicks, Paul Casserly
flicksThe woman next to me, in her early 30s I'd guess, let out such a solid groan about 90 seconds into this bio-pic that I placed a bet that she would be gone within the hour. But like me she stuck it out. Despite the lame score, the often leaden direction and the comic sex scenes, the story of Professor William Marston, his wife Elizabeth Holloway, their lover Olive Byrne, and the resulting creation of the Wonder Woman comic, is utterly fascinating.
Flicks, Luke Buckmaster
flicksBondage, sadomasochism, threesomes, spanking, whips, ropes, naughty nurses and horny university professors – now that is a superhero origins story. Fortuitously timed to arrive in the wake of the box office behemoth Wonder Woman, writer-director Angela Robinson explores the Amazonian arse kicker's real-life creator in Professor Marston and the Wonder Women, opting for a left-of-centre biopic: less about the genius artist than a polygamous three-way relationship that inspired his famous feminist icon.
Surprisingly enthralling
I must confess I have not seen Wonder Woman. I didnt really know what to expect from this film but was soon sucked in by the story and the dynamic of the three main characters. I loved the three performances from the actors and the way that the period piece format was subtly subverted. I found it delicately sexy in ways that most movies with sex scenes fail...
Surprisingly entertaining
Went along with little real idea of what the movie was about. After the menage a trois nature of the relationship between Professor Marston and his real life wonder women was revealed - some slightly awkward audience moments there! - we found the story itself interesting and entertaining. We now view Wonder Woman in a different light and as more than just a...
Interesting, but ultimately disappointing
A somewhat disappointing movie given that it is factually incorrect on several key matters and seeks to justify its existence by focusing on eroticism and titillating the viewer with sex scenes that are based on conjecture and probably only occurred only in the imagination of the writer/director. In matters of factual accuracy the film fails by asserting...
Surprisingly Nuanced, Yet Traditional
Much like the subject matter this film surprised me by sticking close to a traditional romantic genre film, while dealing with an unconventional situation within that realm. While the first half plays out as expected, the true drama and energy arrives when the ropes begin to tighten and the investment in the characters, their relationships and their...
Vulture
press[Professor] Marston [& the Wonder Women] is simply a love letter to the amazing people who inhabit it.
Variety
pressThis is arguably the phoniest film you'll see all year, marred by clumsy direction, over-obvious acting and a wooden script that skews what was so radical about the thruple's arrangement into something tame and downright boring.
Time Out
pressWonder Woman's genesis in bondage play and a willfully naughty attempt to subvert the mainstream deserves a more courageous film than this one, gauzy and overscored.
The New York Times
pressA sly and thoroughly charming Trojan horse of a movie, "Professor Marston" tells the story of the man who created Wonder Woman and the women who inspired him, both in and out of bed.
The Guardian
pressThis movie spreads an odd pall of sentimentality and period-glow nostalgia over a fascinating real-life story.
Stuff
pressIf there's any justice, this perfectly-timed counter-programming to the Amazon Princess' other big screen date will find an audience...
Los Angeles Times
pressYou may long for a more disreputable, less buttoned-up telling, but there is something about this one's sleek, streamlined conventionality that feels both appropriate and pleasing.
FilmInk
press...uses the template of the traditional biopic to put forward "non-traditional" gender roles...
Flicks, Paul Casserly
flicksThe woman next to me, in her early 30s I'd guess, let out such a solid groan about 90 seconds into this bio-pic that I placed a bet that she would be gone within the hour. But like me she stuck it out. Despite the lame score, the often leaden direction and the comic sex scenes, the story of Professor William Marston, his wife Elizabeth Holloway, their lover Olive Byrne, and the resulting creation of the Wonder Woman comic, is utterly fascinating.
Flicks, Luke Buckmaster
flicksBondage, sadomasochism, threesomes, spanking, whips, ropes, naughty nurses and horny university professors – now that is a superhero origins story. Fortuitously timed to arrive in the wake of the box office behemoth Wonder Woman, writer-director Angela Robinson explores the Amazonian arse kicker's real-life creator in Professor Marston and the Wonder Women, opting for a left-of-centre biopic: less about the genius artist than a polygamous three-way relationship that inspired his famous feminist icon.
Vulture
press[Professor] Marston [& the Wonder Women] is simply a love letter to the amazing people who inhabit it.
Variety
pressThis is arguably the phoniest film you'll see all year, marred by clumsy direction, over-obvious acting and a wooden script that skews what was so radical about the thruple's arrangement into something tame and downright boring.
Time Out
pressWonder Woman's genesis in bondage play and a willfully naughty attempt to subvert the mainstream deserves a more courageous film than this one, gauzy and overscored.
The New York Times
pressA sly and thoroughly charming Trojan horse of a movie, "Professor Marston" tells the story of the man who created Wonder Woman and the women who inspired him, both in and out of bed.
The Guardian
pressThis movie spreads an odd pall of sentimentality and period-glow nostalgia over a fascinating real-life story.
Stuff
pressIf there's any justice, this perfectly-timed counter-programming to the Amazon Princess' other big screen date will find an audience...
Los Angeles Times
pressYou may long for a more disreputable, less buttoned-up telling, but there is something about this one's sleek, streamlined conventionality that feels both appropriate and pleasing.
FilmInk
press...uses the template of the traditional biopic to put forward "non-traditional" gender roles...
Surprisingly enthralling
I must confess I have not seen Wonder Woman. I didnt really know what to expect from this film but was soon sucked in by the story and the dynamic of the three main characters. I loved the three performances from the actors and the way that the period piece format was subtly subverted. I found it delicately sexy in ways that most movies with sex scenes...
Surprisingly entertaining
Went along with little real idea of what the movie was about. After the menage a trois nature of the relationship between Professor Marston and his real life wonder women was revealed - some slightly awkward audience moments there! - we found the story itself interesting and entertaining. We now view Wonder Woman in a different light and as more than just...
Interesting, but ultimately disappointing
A somewhat disappointing movie given that it is factually incorrect on several key matters and seeks to justify its existence by focusing on eroticism and titillating the viewer with sex scenes that are based on conjecture and probably only occurred only in the imagination of the writer/director. In matters of factual accuracy the film fails by...
Surprisingly Nuanced, Yet Traditional
Much like the subject matter this film surprised me by sticking close to a traditional romantic genre film, while dealing with an unconventional situation within that realm. While the first half plays out as expected, the true drama and energy arrives when the ropes begin to tighten and the investment in the characters, their relationships and their...
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