Synopsis
In 1979 Santa Barbara, California, Dorothea Fields is a determined single mother in her mid-50s who is raising her adolescent son, Jamie, at a moment brimming with cultural change and rebellion. Dorothea enlists the help of two younger women – Abbie, a free-spirited punk artist living as a boarder in the Fields' home and Julie, a savvy and provocative teenage neighbour – to help with Jamie's upbringing.
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Cast
- Annette BeningDorothea Fields
- Lucas Jade ZumannJamie Fields
- Greta GerwigAbbie Porter
- Elle FanningJulie Miller
- Billy CrudupWilliam
- Alison ElliottJulie's Mother
- Thea GillGail Porter (Abbie's Mother)
- Vitaly Andrew LeBeauYoung Jamie
- Olivia HoneJulie's Sister
- Waleed ZuaiterCharlie
Recommendations
- 91
The Playlist
Masterfully played by Annette Bening, Dorothea is a fascinating character of contradictions. - 91
IndieWire
This is the rare movie that’s redeemed by its unchecked nostalgia. - 83
The Film Stage
If the screenplay’s sense of scale can begin to feel limited by an overfamiliarity in environment, it’s suddenly made expansive with the realization of how much these places are extensions of these five people’s lives and personalities. - 80
The Hollywood Reporter
The sheer likability of these lived-in characters is a powerful magnet, thanks to insightful writing and a note-perfect ensemble anchored by a never-better Annette Bening. - 80
The Guardian
For all of Mills’s cinematic tricks, he’s emerging as a great realist film-maker. - 80
Time Out
The characters of 20th Century Women, more interconnected than most, generate a group narrative that’s just substantial enough to keep you in thrall by how uninhibited a movie can be. - 70
Screen Daily
Although a touch too precious and slight, 20th Century Women is lit from within by its endless curiosity about its evolving characters. - 60
TheWrap
20th Century Women mainly overcomes its flaws through the sheer imaginative sensitivity of Mills’s writing.
