* Many Spoilers Ahead *
Bradley Cooper’s directorial debut is another installation of A Star is Born. In this fourth rendition of a classic story, Cooper stars alongside Lady Gaga as musicians Jackson Maine and the mononymous Ally.
Jackson Maine is a washed up rock star, with a serious (I mean serious) pension for boozing up. He finds Gaga’s Ally as he stumbles into a drag bar one night on tour. Ally is the only woman welcome to perform in the bar. She’s Lady Gaga, so of course her performance is musically enticing.
In fact, the film is very picturesque. It’s well-paced. And the performances are, for the most part, enjoyable, although at times a bit melodramatic. The representation of the drag-scene is well-done and exciting. And again—it boasts the musical talent of Lady Gaga.
With all this going for it, I should walk away with the idea that I just saw a good film. An inspiring one at that. But instead, I left disappointed in the messages and the female representation in the film.
Ally’s character, who does not even have a last name until she marries Jackson, is lacking entirely of her own authority. From start to finish, she is coerced or forced into things she does not want to do. She says no; a man says yes, and she inevitably follows the path laid out for her by said man. She is even backed into a corner on her own wedding. While her love for Jackson is real, it is not empowering. It is tragic. As Ally climbs continually to the top, Jackson spirals even further out of control. The film may believe it is about Ally’s rise to fame, but make no mistake, it is about one man’s psychological fallout, and his losing battle with alcoholism. Maybe the story of Jackson Maine works better when it is not framed around Ally’s success, but alas, that is not the story we we were given.
The film could have used more women. The complete absence of women, aside from minor, no more than a few insignificant line roles, further hinders the film’s ability to give Ally a justifiable and satisfying storyline.
Maybe it is supposed to be a tragic love story—one’s inability to cope derailing their relationship—but that is not the story we were given either. We do not know enough about Ally beyond her talent for us to care about her story. We know too much about Jackson. Jackson is dealing with a lot: a mother who died in childbirth, an abusive father, a strained relationship with his brother, loss of hearing, severe alcoholism, the end of his fame, etc. Throwing this many conflicts at the audience does little to pull away from the age-old idea that a woman’s stardom is a man’s burial because throughout the film, Jackson’s character rationalizes his problems as inextricably tied to Ally. Ally’s success is the final straw that motivates Jackson Maine to leap into the afterlife.
This film ultimately romanticizes the passive woman. It frames a relationship in which both a man and a woman can be successful as an impossibility. A Star Is Born is a testament to the ways misogynistic ideas may seep into a well-intentioned story, cast, and director. All the critical acclaim for this movie must be set aside when evaluating the grit and the truths told through Ally and Jackson Maine—good filmmaking does not equate to good, morally sound storytelling.