20th Century Women

2016 1h 59m EN

👍

7.3

SOLID

★7.3TMDB · 1,266

Drama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

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.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

WhatsApp X Facebook Telegram

Where to watch · US

Apple TV StoreRent

Google Play MoviesRent

Google Play MoviesBuy

YouTubeBuy

Fandango At HomeBuy

Cast

Annette Bening
Dorothea
Elle Fanning
Julie
Greta Gerwig
Abbie
Billy Crudup
William
Lucas Jade Zumann
Jamie
Alison Elliott
Julie's Mother
Thea Gill
Abbie's Mother
Vitaly Andrew LeBeau
Young Jamie

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Mike Mills
Writers: Mike Mills
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 81% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

ERA

Did you know

Released 10 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Mike Mills, shot by Sean Porter. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Roger Neill. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Leslie Jones shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

CAST

Did you know

Annette Bening and Elle Fanning and Greta Gerwig carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt4385888 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Mike Mills directs. Sean Porter behind the camera. Roger Neill scores. Leslie Jones cuts. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Earned back only 81% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
2Released 10 years ago.
3Directed by Mike Mills, shot by Sean Porter. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Roger Neill. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Leslie Jones shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Annette Bening and Elle Fanning and Greta Gerwig carry the top of the cast.
7IMDB entry: tt4385888 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Classified under 13 themes, including "parent child relationship", "1970s", "balcony", "feminism".

The technical file

Cinematography: Sean Porter
Original score: Roger Neill
Editing: Leslie Jones
Production design: Chris Jones
Costume design: Jennifer Johnson
Makeup / hair: Jacqueline Knowlton
Sound: Frank Gaeta
Stunt coordinator: Nash Edgerton
Runtime: 119 min · 1h 59m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $7,000,000
Box office: $5,664,764
Return: 81% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: 20th Century Women (2016)

Also by

Mike Mills

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

iheardthatmoviewas2016-11-03
The year is 1979 and Dorothea Fields finds herself in her 50s raising a teenage boy, Jaime, while running a house in Santa Barbara that is always going through renovations. Jaime’s father is not in the picture but who needs a father when your mother rents rooms to a handful of particular individuals ranging from different generations. Director Mike Mills casts three powerful actresses, Annette Bening, Greta Gerwig and Elle Fanning, to fill the roles of the different women in Jaime’s life and they help create three compelling female characters that pulls you in. The problem? These three exceptional characters are subsided for a coming-of-age narrative that fails to compare to the women that help raised it. Set in Santa Barbara, the film follows Dorothea Fields (Annette Bening), a determined single mother in her mid-50s who is raising her adolescent son, Jamie (newcomer Lucas Jade Zumann, in a breakout performance) at a moment brimming with cultural change and rebellion. Dorothea enlists the help of two younger women in Jamie's upbringing - via Abbie (Greta Gerwig), a free-spirited punk artist living as a boarder in the Fields' home, and Julie (Elle Fanning), a savvy and provocative teenage neighbor. Being a single parent is tough, it is even tougher when your son is a teenager dealing with romances, the freeing energy of punk music and playing games which entails panting real hard while someone pulls on their diaphragm. After a trip to the hospital, Annette Bening’s Dorothea realizes she might not be able to raise her son by herself and requests the aide of the different women in Jaime’s life. Dorothea does not need help with the physical needs of raising a child in providing shelter and nutrition but the psychological needs of raising in a child in providing the knowledge about life, women and what it means to be a man. Each female was born in a different generation and dealing with their own issues that life has handed them and this leads to Jaime becoming that much more confused about life. Annette Bening is absolutely fantastic as Dorothea and you grow a connection with her because Dorothea isn’t developed as a motherly character but as a human. It isn’t all Dorothea’s fault as she was raised during the Depression as Jaime loves to points out. She put a barrier around her and her son when his father left and this is shown through her moments of conservatisms despite being a free spirit of sorts. She tasks these females with a job that she should be doing but that doesn’t mean she is taking a step from the spotlight. She joins them to a trip to a punk rock club so she could not only understand her son but these females as well. The first to tackle the challenge of raising Jaime is Greta Gerwig’s Abbie who is influenced by feminism, punk music and photography. Abbie uses the first two influences to help guide Jaime into an understanding of what it means to be a man. As titles such as Our Bodies, Our Selves and Sisterhood is Powerful find a way onto Jaime’s lap and words such as clitoris stimulation and menstruating find a way into Jaime’s ears, Abbie’s attempts to help Jaime define what a man is by allowing herself define herself through a the perceptive of past males in her life. This is a trend that could be found in all three women as Ellie Fanning’s Julie uses her promiscuity to rebel against her therapist mother and the world. Ellie, who is closest to Jaime’s age, is the last one to tackle the task given to her and if she wasn’t already sneaking into Jaime’s bed every night, she probably would have avoided the task altogether. Jaime yearns for Ellie and she informs him that he just wants the idea of her. Jaime is confused, after all he is a teenage boy, and all the hormones and feminist literature is not helping. The definition of what a man and woman is changes every generation. My great grandfather would tell me that a man buys a woman flowers, write her love letters and a bunch of other things males in 2016 no longer consider tasks a man does. Three different females are attempting to define these terms through the scope of their generation and how their generation saw it and unfortunately, majority of those definitions are no longer validated for Jaime’s generation. 20th Century Women takes things one step further and gives us backstories and what is to come of everyone living within the house. There is no real problem with this except for the fact that these backstories don't offer any real reflection which adds to the frustration that the film does not have an arc, well not one I could point out. At one point, I thought the film was concluding as we learn what is to come of Dorothea early on. I was later surprised that there was still an hour left within the film. Dabbled with nostalgia, 20th Century Women would have made for a better coming-of-age if the film decided to follow our titular women than just a boy that connected the three together.
Reno2017-09-08
★ 7/10
Rather a 20th century tale! You have seen films like this often. This is where a chick film meets art. Art means not the flick full of inspiration, message, awareness. But the presentation was so pleasant. The screenplay carefully picked the right events, and the dialogues were good. The book fanatics would go and look for the original source it was adapted from. But the truth is it was an originally written screenplay, and that's why it got a nomination at the recent Oscars. Another way to say, it inspired by the director's own childhood life, being raised by his mother and sister. This is the story of a single mother, whose teenage son is struggling to blend with the world. Then they have two roommates, one a woman in her 20s and a middle aged man. Beside a girl of her son's age visits regularly and sometimes secretly. So how all these people influence in the boy's life is the story that revealed. His mother being from different generation and not understanding the present world, which was the year 1979, where the film sets in. From the director of 'Beginners', yet another unique film. Thematically there's nothing special, though it was carved with the excellent bunch of actors made the difference. I'm not sure the title was perfect for what the film narrated. Yes, if it was Annette Bening's Dorothea's story, then it justifies. But the story does not have one perspective of narration. All the main characters like Bening, Elle, Greta, Crudup and Zumann, shared screen equally. So, instead I would have preferred the title, '20th Century Tale'. Greta kind of reminded me Kristen Stewart with the hair like that. Two hours long drama with some funs. Really a good film. The topics it brings in for discussion were interesting, especially which is in the current era. Films like this should be watching. It is about the life, people with different characters and ambitions. 7/10
beyondthecineramadome2022-06-20
★ 10/10
Full review: <a>https://www.tinakakadelis.com/beyond-the-cinerama-dome/2021/12/28/-20th-century-women-review<a> Director Mike Mills has described 20th Century Women as a love letter to his childhood set in a sleepy Santa Barbara of 1979. Dorothea (Annette Bening) runs a boarding house and lives with her son Jamie (Lucas Jade Zimmerman), Abbie (Greta Gerwig), a photographer, and William (Billy Crudup), an auto mechanic. Always hanging around the house is Julie (Elle Fanning), a good friend of Jamie. Dorothea is a single mother and enlists the help of Julie and Abbie to teach Jamie how to be a good man.