The film opens with Reddy, aged 24, arriving in New York in 1966 with her three-year-old daughter, a suitcase and just $230. Within five years she had become one of the biggest superstars of her time, with 29 number one US singles, her own hourly TV show and an icon of the 1970s feminist movement, which adopted her power anthem. The film follows her troubled relationships with Roxon, author of the influential Lillian Roxon's Rock Encyclopedia and husband/manager Wald, who also managed such stars as Sylvester Stallone, Donna Summers, Deep Purple and Tiny Tim.
Production
Reddy lives in a care facility in LA and her family advised the filmmakers on the project. Moon said she felt great responsibility to Helen to ensure the story was told sensitively: "Before we locked the movie off, Producer Rosemary Blight and I felt very strongly that we needed to show the movie to Helen and her family. We did a screening for Helen, her ex-husband Jeff Wald, and her two children. As a filmmaker, sitting in the cinema with Helen Reddy was, and it’s probably going to be, one of the hardest screenings I had to do for the film. I suddenly realised that this is her life and she was watching it through my eyes. During the screening, Helen sang along to her songs, and when she cried, it wasn’t because she was sad that we made the movie, she cried because she found the whole experience so touching, and I think really cathartic in a way." Screen Australia is the principle investor in the film, alongside Cowlick Entertainment, and arts body Create NSW, with further funding from the Goodship Women's Fund, which supports films with strong social change messaging.
Release and reception
The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 5, 2019. On review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 75% based on 8 reviews, with an average rating of 5.75/10. Indiewire declared the film “a cut above other genre entries” while The Hollywood Reporter described it as “entertaining and sharply packaged” with “considerable appeal”, with Toronto movie review site That Shelf calling it a “sure fire crowd pleaser”. Hollywood Reporter reviewer David Rooney wrote: "The crucial thing is that you really root for Helen — to make it in the first place and then to make it through a nightmarish marriage and come out unbroken. The luminous Cobham-Hervey has you in the corner of this smart, pragmatic, quietly driven woman all the way." The film was chosen to open the 10th annual Athena Film Festival, which celebrates women and they awarded director Unjoo Moon with the Athena Breakthrough Award. I Am Woman is scheduled for release in Australia by Transmission Films., in North America through Aqute Media, and elsewhere by Metropolitan, Nos, Inopia, Videovision, Front Row, Bliss Media, Scene & Sound, Ale Kino+, VTI, Cineplex, Golden A Entertainment and Cinesky.
