Young, Single, Disillusioned: The Screen Heroine in 1960s British Cinema

Abstract

Much discussion of 1960s British film culture focuses on the figure of the sexually liberated young woman. Central to the myth of ‘swinging Britain, she is commonly understood as a narrative foil for the debates about masculinity that dominated cinematic representation in this decade. However, the range of cinematic femininities was more diffuse and complex than this popular image suggests, as some directors took advantage of significant changes to the film industry's structure to explore the emerging new social and sexual freedoms from a female perspective. This article explores women's narrative voice and articulations of personal freedom, desire and dissatisfaction in three films, by Val Guest, Wolf Rilla, and Anthony Simmons, that open up the cultural texture of the period in suggestive ways.