User:Orilta/Tonie Marshall

Article Presentation and Evaluation
Article title and link: Tonie Marshall

About her career: Tonie Marshall is a French-American director and actress whose career began at the very end of the 1980s and lasted until the beginning of the 2010s. She had also worked in the Drama and Television industries. Many of her films have been nationally recognized and she was the first woman filmmaker to receive the French Academy Award for Best Director for her 1999 film Venus Beauté Institut. She is also known for her feminist commitment and activism. She died in 2020 at the age of 68.

Article Evaluation: This article is of interest to 3 WikiProjects (Wiki Project Biography / Actors and Filmmakers, Wiki Project France, and Wiki Project Women Writers) which have all rated it as "C-Class" and two of them have marked it as "Low importance." The level of completeness is 41 and the article is consulted 42 times per day on average. We can notice that Tonie Marshall's article has already been worked on in the scope of another Wiki Education course assignment in 2016.

The article in itself is poor regarding the career of Tonie Marshall and can be easily extended. It is composed of 4 sections ("Life and career", "Filmography", "References" and "External Links"). It has a right-size picture. The information on Tonie Marshall is however quite limited (the first section does not give details about the films' production context and a section about her activist life would be necessary).On the contrary, the filmography is quite exhaustive although it does not give information on the films' content. The sources we can find on Tonie Marshall come from diverse objects (magazines, books, interviews, critics, newspapers, etc) and we can observe that her death in 2020 revived studies about her. Many sources mention both her work and her activist position (cf her French Wikipedia page which covers a little more details and sources).

Why Tonie Marshall? I discovered Tonie Marshall in the scope of a film festival in La Roche-sur-Yon (France) in 2020 where diverse women filmmakers were put in the spotlight and where a retrospective was organized in the memory of diverse artists who recently passed away, including Tonie Marshall. The film that was shown in her tribute was Vénus Beauté Institut which relates the daily life of the female employees of a beauty salon. The film won 4 French Academy Awards: Best Film, Best Director, Most Promising Actress, Best Writing - Original or Adaptation, and was nominated for three others. Although her work has been recognized in France, she is still very not well known internationally, and that is also why I chose her in the scope of the Wikipedia Project. It is also a way to pay tribute to her work and personal commitments.

Sources:

Books:

- Hottel, Ruth A. & Pallister, Janis L. (2011). Noteworthy Francophone Women Directors: A Sequel, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press.

- Hughes, Alex & Williams James S. (2001). Gender and French Cinema, Berg.

- Oscherwitz, Dayna & Higgins, Mary Ellen (2007). Historical Dictionary of French Cinema, The Scarecrow Press.

- Rège, Philippe (2009). Encyclopedia of French Film Directors, The Scarecrow Press.

- Rollet, Brigitte & Tarr, Carrie (2001). Cinema and the second sex: women's filmmaking in France in the 1980s and 1990s, Continuum.

Articles:

- Champalaune, Mathieu (updated 16 March 2021). "300 personnalités du cinéma lancent le collectif "5050 pour 2020" pour l'égalité dans le cinéma", Les Inrockuptibles.

(https://www.lesinrocks.com/cinema/300-personnalites-du-cinema-lancent-le-collectif-5050-pour-2020-pour-legalite-dans-le-cinema-136666-28-02-2018/)

- Gamberini Giulietta (11 October 2017). "Il faut 50% de femmes aux postes de décision", La Tribune.

(https://www.latribune.fr/economie/france/tonie-marshall-pour-que-le-monde-evolue-il-faut-atteindre-50-de-femmes-aux-postes-de-decision-753591.html)

- Murat, Pierre (2 March 2018). "Tonie Marshall: "Le corps des femmes, culturellement, appartient à tous", Télérama.

(https://www.telerama.fr/cinema/tonie-marshall-le-corps-des-femmes%2C-culturellement%2C-appartient-a-tous%2Cn5508607.php)

- Nougué, Emilie (visited 24 September 2022). "Les femmes de la semaine du 24 février au 2 mars 2018", Orange Tendances.

(https://tendances.orange.fr/societe/femmes-de-la-semaine/diaporama-les-femmes-de-la-semaine-du-24-fevrier-au-2-mars-2018-CNT000000ZcJv5/tonie-marshall-lutte-contre-les-violences-faites-aux-femmes-076ed44d070fe088b17e4440d2786cfc.html#plmAnchor)

- Seelye, Katharine Q. (12 March 2020). "Tonie Marshall, 68, Dies; French Filmmaker Took A Stand Against Sexism", New York Times.

(https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/17/movies/tonie-marshall-dead.html)

- Vavasseur, Pierre & Baronian, Renaud (12 March 2020). "Tonie Marshall, disparition d'une réalisatrice discrète", Le Parisien.

(https://www.leparisien.fr/culture-loisirs/cinema/tonie-marshall-disparition-d-une-realisatrice-discrete-12-03-2020-8278674.php)

- West, Dennis & West, Joan M. (2001). "Women, Beauty Parlors, and Love: An Interview with Tonie Marshall", Cinéaste, Vol 26, No. 2, pp. 29-31.

(https://www.jstor.org/stable/41689338)

- West Joan M. (2001) "Venus Beauty Institute by Gilles Sandoz, Tonie Marshall, Mario Vernoux, Jacques Audiard", Cinéaste, Vol 26, No. 2, pp. 44-46.

(https://www.jstor.org/stable/41689344)

- [Author unknown] (8 October 2017). "Tonie Marshall veut briser le plafond de verre avec "Numéro Une", La Depeche.

(https://www.ladepeche.fr/article/2017/10/08/2661244-tonie-marshall-veut-briser-plafond-verre-numero.html)

- [Author unknown] (27 February 2018). "César 2018. Un ruban blanc pour lutter contre les violences faites aux femmes", Ouest France.

(https://www.ouest-france.fr/cinema/les-cesar/cesar-2018-un-ruban-blanc-pour-lutter-contre-les-violences-faites-aux-femmes-5591415)

- [Author unknown] (12 March 2020). "Décès de Tonie Marshall, réalisatrice engagée", La Liberté.

(https://www.laliberte.ch/news-agence/detail/deces-de-tonie-marshall-realisatrice-engagee/557116)

- [Author unknown] (13 March 2020). "L'image de la semaine: l'adieu à Tonie Marshall", CNC.

(https://www.cnc.fr/cinema/actualites/limage-de-la-semaine--ladieu-a-tonie-marshall_1139018)

- [Author unknown] (22 August 2022). "Micheline Presle, l'audacieuse", CNC.

(https://www.cnc.fr/cinema/actualites/micheline-presle-laudacieuse_1752617)

Documentaries:

- "1972: Tonie Marshall, une jeune actrice | Archive INA", Institut National de l'Audiovisuel.

(Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_v3IvmdW-A)

- "Qui était Tonie Marshall? | Archive INA", Institut National de l'Audiovisuel.

(Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pr_2mfUZfKA)

- "Tonie Marshall, réalisatrice de Numéro Une: "il faut des réseaux mixtes, pas uniquement féminins", Cadremploi.

(Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tp7QJDls2uw)

Article Draft
[Modifications are underlined with some details put into brackets]

Lead
Before: "Tonie Marshall (29 November 1951 – 12 March 2020) was a French-American actress, screenwriter, and film director. In 2000, she became the first female director to win a César award."

After: Tonie Marshall (29 November 1951 – 12 March 2020) was a French-American actress, screenwriter, and film director. In 2000, she became the first female director to win a César award for her film Venus Beauty Institute .

Life and career
Before: Marshall was the daughter of American actor William Marshall and French actress Micheline Presle, the half-sister of actor Mike Marshall and the aunt of model and actress Sarah Marshall.

After: Marshall was the daughter of American actor, director, and bandleader William Marshall and French actress Micheline Presle. She was also the aunt of model and actress Sarah Marshall, and the half-sister of actor Mike Marshall, son of the actress Michèle Morgan.

[Added paragraph] Before becoming a director, Tonie Marshall was an actress, first in drama and then in television and film, where she played several little parts in the 1970s and 1980s. As she recalls on his beginning on-screen: "I was an actress because it was what seemed the more natural for me, but I was interested a lot in writing and in production. I was quite afraid not to make it [directing films]. Because I was a little actress, that I did not attend a specialized school, that I did not have any technique." During her childhood, she also developed her experience of films thanks to the arthouse cinema of the Ursulines in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, near which she grew up.

Before: In 1971, Tonie Marshall started her career as actress in television. In 1973, she interpreted a minor role in A Slightly Pregnant Man. In 1989, she made her debut as director with the film Pentimento.

After acting in several of Jacques Demy's films, including A Slightly Pregnant Man and La Naissance du Jour, Marshall cites to have taken influence from his direction in the sense of creating whimsical atmospheres and rooting the stories with more of a female-centric narrative.

After: After performing minor parts in several of Jacques Demy's films, including A Slightly Pregnant Man (1973) and La Naissance du Jour (1980) [link added] Marshall cites to have taken influence from his direction in the sense of creating whimsical atmospheres and rooting the stories with more of a female-centric narrative [source untraceable], Marshall directed her first film, Pentimento (1990), offering the radio and television host Antoine de Caunes his first role in cinema.

Before: In 1994, her film Pas très catholique was entered into the 44th Berlin International Film Festival.

After: In 1994, her film Pas très catholique was selected as part of the 44th Berlin International Film Festival.

Before: Her 1999 film Venus Beauty Institute (Vénus beauté (institut)) won the 2000 César Award for Best Film and she won the César Award for Best Director and for Best Writing – Original or Adaptation, becoming the first female director to receive this distinction. For writing the film, she researched in a real beauty salon.

After: Tonie Marshall's 1999 film Venus Beauty Institute (Vénus beauté ( I nstitut)) won four César Awards during the 2000 competition including Best Director, making her the first female filmmaker to receive this distinction. The César Academy also awarded Venus Beauty Institute with Best Film, Best Writing - Original or Adaptation, as well as Most Promising Actress for Audrey Tautou, whose career was launched by the film.

[Short plot added] This romantic comedy centers on the search for love and happiness of three employees of a Parisian beauty saloon "Vénus Beauté Institut": Angèle (Nathalie Baye), Marie (Audrey Tautou), Samantha (Mathilde Seigner), and their manager Nadine (Bulle Ogier). Tonie Marshall's mother Micheline Presle also appears in the film where she plays the part of Aunt Maryse. In a 2001 interview for the film magazine Cinéaste, Tonie Marshall recalls the genesis of the film and how she was inspired by an existing beauty salon:

"My first idea was to write a part for Nathalie Baye because I wanted to do something with her that she had not done before: a woman with a very nice appearance, very banal, but who is, in fact, very mixed up and complicated. But I hadn't decided what she would for a living in the film. Then one day I was passing by a small beauty salon on my street - the light was pink and there was a girl, a beautician I suppose, dressed in pink; and she was closing the shop very, very slowly. Her movement, absolutely like she was dancing, but very slowly, struck me as being an entirely cinematic image. I went back to this beauty parlor as a customer, and when I was there I heard so many incredible things."

Tonie Marshall has been mostly influenced by Jacques Demy's films throughout her career, the most famous ones being The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) and The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967). Venus Beauty emerged from this influence, as well as an additional source of inspiration: the French film Belle de Jour (1964) directed by Luis Bunuel and starring Catherine Deneuve.

Before: In 2017, Marshall released her last feature film Woman Up!. For the film, she researched female corporative world through in-depth discussions [sentence plagiarized from the above Wikipedia page of the film.]

After: [title of the film and sentence edited + short plot added] In 2017, Marshall released Number One, her last feature film, which is based on her conversation with various female corporate executives. The film relates the story of Emmanuelle Blachey (Emmanuelle Devos), an engineer who tries to reach the manager position in a company with the help of her female counterparts and despite the misogynistic atmosphere that rules over the firm.

Activism
[Added section]

Although Tonie Marshall would not label herself as a feminist, many of her films involve an underlying fight against sexism, especially the later ones including Number One in which she overtly advocates gender equality in the professional sphere.

Off-set, she was one of the members of the French 50/50 Collective, founded in 2018 and which promotes gender diversity and equality in the film industry. The same year, she also joined the Fondation des femmes, founded in March 2016, which aims to raise funds for feminist organizations. During the 2018 César Awards Ceremony and in association with the foundation, Tonie Marshall participated in the #MaintenantOnAgit movement as part of which she called diverse personalities to wear a white ribbon as a symbol of the struggle against violence against women.

In an interview given to the French newspaper La Tribune in 2017 for the release of Number One, Marshall addressed her young female spectators, saying: "For the world to evolve, and to reach true modernity, 45-50% of women should get to decision-making professional positions in order to finally experience a different organization in work and business. If I could help with it, I would be very glad. And if people who watched my film get out of the theater telling themselves "this made me want the same", it is an absolute joy."

In 2001, Marshall was asked a question about the role played by women filmmakers in France, to which she answered: "Toscan du Plantier, the president of Unifrance, says that French cinema will be saved by women. This may be just a formule, pretty words, I don't know. But I do think that maybe the way we shoot a scene of two people making love is pretty different."

Filmography
[Moving the paragraph to the following new sub-section "Recognition".]

[Changing "Number One" with "Woman Up!", as it is the common title given to the film in the UK and the US?]

[+ Adding the French titles to the films?]

Awards and recognition
[Added section]

Honors
For her 1999 film Venus Beauty Institute :


 * 2000 Cesar for Best Film
 * 2000 Cesar for Best Director
 * 2000 Cesar for Best Writing - Original or Adaptation
 * 2000 Cesar for Most Promising Actress - Audrey Tautou

Nominations
For her 1999 film Venus Beauty Institute :


 * 2000 Cesar for Best Actress - Nathalie Baye
 * 2000 Cesar for Best Supporting Actress - Bulle Ogier
 * 2000 Cesar for Best Supporting Actress - Mathilde Seigner

Recognition
[Moving this existing paragraph from "Filmography" to this new sub-section : Marshall achieved a prominent role in the French film industry, dominated mainly by men. In her most notable film, Venus Beauty Institute, Marshall touched on the theme of finding love from a female perspective, and how it can fundamentally be more difficult because of how it strays from the traditional dynamic of courtship. She explained how "in a practical sense, it’s complicated to have abandon [oneself] into a man’s arms and, at the same time, stay very tough because you have to work…". This carefully expresses the vulnerabilities women endure when heavily committing to relationships, similar to much of Demy's work, including The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and The Young Girls of Rochefort.]

+ minor change:

Before: This carefully expresses the vulnerabilities women endure when heavily committing to relationships, similar to much of Demy's work, including The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and The Young Girls of Rochefort.

After: This carefully [not neutral] expresses the vulnerabilities women endure when heavily committing to relationships, similar to much of Demy's work, including The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and The Young Girls of Rochefort.