Woman of the Year [PG]

When diplomatic, career-driven, journalist Tess Harding makes a quip on radio about baseball, sports journalist for the same paper, Sam Craig, begins a little interoffice battle of journalist wits. When the two are called before the boss to resolve the matter, it’s love at first sight and they’re married before they know it. But marriage to a high-powered, career-driven woman proves to be not what Sam envisioned, as their ideas of marriage differ and become skewed. It’s only when Tess is awarded ‘Woman of the Year’ that the reality of their marriage begins to dawn on them. But could it be too late to salvage it? 

This is a lovely little romantic comedy that again is marked and driven by the divine chemistry of Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn. Amongst the biggest names in romantic leads, Tracy and Hepburn provided memorable performances as lawyer husband and wife in Adam’s Rib, which was another film that played on gender roles and the changing ideas of gender identity within the legal realm. This time around the two are going head to head in the media realm, but what makes this movie separate is that it’s a subtle and ironic comment on just how much the perceptions of gender identities have changed within contemporary society. 

When diplomatic, career-driven, journalist Tess Harding makes a quip on radio about baseball, sports journalist for the same paper, Sam Craig, begins a little interoffice battle of journalist wits. When the two are called before the boss to resolve the matter, it’s love at first sight and they’re married before they know it. But marriage to a high-powered, career-driven woman proves to be not what Sam envisioned, as their ideas of marriage differ and become skewed. It’s only when Tess is awarded ‘Woman of the Year’ that the reality of their marriage begins to dawn on them. But could it be too late to salvage it? 

The most striking thing about this movie is its comment on the changes in perceptions of gender identities. We’ve got these two characters that are quite chalk and cheese when you think about it. Tess is the modern woman: she’s striking, confident, wealthy, career-driven, passionate, and smart. Right from the off she gains admiration from the women in the audience, but then slowly begins to spiral downwards in a most ironic sort of way. She receives the award for ‘Woman of the Year’ at the point when it becomes clear that the marriage isn’t working. She realises what Sam wants and then tries to provide it for him. She tries to prove that she can be a ‘traditional’ woman: a cooker, a cleaner, and the little wife. It is during a very simple yet incredibly funny final scene where she gets toppled from her cloud completely, bringing an irony to her newly earned title. Whilst the film hints that the woman is the protagonist or ‘heroine’, Sam earns himself the title of ‘hero’ as his character is yet another comment on how the perceptions of gender have changed over time. Sam is the true romantic of the two. He’s the one who wants love, time with his wife, a child of their own, and a home by the river. In comparison to Tess, he’s the simpler and less sophisticated of the couple yet it’s his simplicity and ‘traditional’ views of a woman and a wife that manage to topple Tess. Throughout the story and the romance there is always this delicious irony that follows the two like a shadow and it makes the simpler scenes funnier as well as bringing a further level of romance to the romantic scenes. 

Katherine Hepburn delivers a great performance as Tess. She’s quick, eloquent, witty, and strong: basically the woman that every other woman wants to be. She gains admiration from reel one, but then towards the end of the film we cannot help but feel sympathetic towards her as she struggles to separate eggs. But it’s Katherine Hepburn: she’s always good! 

Spencer Tracy is Sam and he gives a great show. He’s lightly and charmingly sarcastic, sincere, romantic, and where Tess attracts admiration, he attracts a supportive love made stronger when we see him cooking perfect eggs for both Tess and her assistant. 

Starring Fay Bainter, Reginald Owen, Minor Watson, William Bendix, Gladys Blake, Roscoe Karns, Ludwig Stossel, and Edith Evanson, Woman of the Year is a lovely little romantic comedy that’s filled with wit, irony, drama, comedy, and romance. It’s not the most memorable or influential of rom-coms, but it’s a sound keeper and another classic exhibition of winning cast chemistry by Hepburn and Tracy.