“Professor Marston and Wonder Woman” From Reality to Comic Book

Especially if you are a fan of super heroes, have you ever wondered how ‘Wonder Women’ was created? Well it’s not what you probably expected according to the movie “Professor Marston and Wonder Woman”. The first female super hero to make it big in the comic book world, became one of the most famous of them all. This tale is based on a true story about the author of the ‘Wonder Women’ Comic book.

Psychologist and professor at Radcliff, William Moulton Marston (Luke Evans) studied and researched human emotions and taught psychology in the 1920’s with his wife, Elizabeth Marston (Rebecca Hall). In fact she was a well educated women with a Master’s degree from Radcliff as well. Spending their entire life together since childhood, the couple studied and researched the human emotional state based on interactions between different and same sex’s relationships.

At Radcliff they meet Olive Byrne (Bella Heathcote) a student who shows interest in becoming a teacher’s assistant and had very similar interests. Becoming close, they begin a relationship that was forbidden during their era and eventually began to give a negative response to their future. During their relationship they studied many different aspects to human emotions including a rather controversial sexual behavior they observed through Charles Guyette (JJ Field) when he began his movement in the United States during that time.

When the 1940’s began, Professor Marston began looking for another outlet of his psychological philosophy. His polyamorous relationship between him, his wife and his mistress eventually leads into the creation of wonder women. He claimed that when all of Elizabeth’s strengths were added to Olive’s you had the perfect women. His vision of Wonder Women was based on his two loves.

Most of the storyline takes place during the 1940s and flashes back to the 1920’s up until the hearing William must attend to defend his comic character. He defends his beliefs and the true meaning of this famous hero to the investigator Josette Frank (Connie Britton) in an attempt save the reputation of comic book publisher M.C. Gaines (Oliver Platt),National Periodicals and All-American Publications.

Director and writer Angela Robinson does an excellent job putting together all the pieces to this detailed and remarkable story. The presentation is clear and very detailed, including the scenes of them together. Angela also depicts the reactions of others during a time where this type of relationship was taboo. This very well told story does include a romantic and sexual relationship between two women and includes intense sexual scenes.

Final Comment: I based my grade on the well detailed and very interesting storyline. (5 out of 5 stars)

Additional Film Information

Cast: Luke Evans, Rebecca Hall, Bella Heathcote, Oliver Platt, and Connie Britton.
Directed and Written by: Angela Robinson
Genre: Drama
MPAA Rating: R for strong sexual content including brief graphic images, and language.
Running Time: 1 hour and 48 minutes
Release Date: October 13, 2017
Distributed By: Annapurna Pictures