Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché

Released Mar 15, 2019

1 hr. 43 min.

Documentary

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96%

93 Reviews

Tomatometer

96%

100+ Ratings

Audience Score

The life and work of the first female film director.

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Critics Consensus

Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché aims an overdue spotlight on a cinematic innovator's career, with the added benefit of absorbing historical context.

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Peng S

Not just a fascinating story brining light to a pioneering filmmaker buried to history, also a well paced and intriguing piece of documentary work that keeps the viewer hooked from start to finish.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/28/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This documentary was so beautifully and thoughtfully done. I can't recommend it highly enough. I had read about Alice in a blurb a few years ago and wanted to feature her on my web series Feminist Cocktail Hour, but was struggling to find sources about the life of this amazing woman. "Be Natural" delivered the incredible story of this film pioneer who innovated the form in so many ways, and whose story had previously been lost in the annals of history. Do not miss this movie and once you've watched it, make sure to share Alice's story far and wide. It's such an important story being told.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/01/23

Full Review

david f

This is a fascinating documentary about a woman who was present at the birth of cinema where she was a filmmaker in France who wrote, directed, and produced hundreds of films. She later moved to America where she built her own movie studio in the then-prototypical Hollywood of Fort Lee, New Jersey, home to many nascent movie studios. After her marriage, her studio, and her filmmaking career ended she was then written out of film history by many film scholars. This movie tells the story of her life and her groundbreaking career in the early days of film, when she was recognized and well known as a successful filmmaker. The maker of this documentary tracks down her descendants and her papers and explores Alice Guy-Blaché's life through letters, film, pictures, interviews and through short clips of the over thousand short and feature films that she made.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I have been a movie critic in France and had cinema classes at University but I had never heard the name of Alice Guy Blaché before. I thought I knew everything, even wrote an article celebrating the 100 years of cinema highlighting Mélies and the Lumière brothers. Little did I know that women enormous contribution had been erased by movie historians (all men). Thank god, Alice is now re discovered thanks to the help of a new generation of archivist and documentarist. This woman was the very first movie director on both sides of the Atlantic. Her movies are incredibly naturally acted and fresh almost as if filmed yesterday. A rare talent now celebrated. A must see for anyone loving cinema and for every feminist out there.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/13/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I highly recommend this. The background and history to Alice Guy-Blache's story is fascinating. I loved the way the research was animated and visual. So great that Alice's part in film history is now documented. A must see for many reasons.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/17/23

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Audience Member

It is an amazing documentary i would highly recommend it 📽

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/17/23

Full Review

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Pamela B. Green

Director

Jodie Foster

Narrator

Pamela B. Green

Writer

Joan Simon

Writer

Geralyn White Dreyfous

Executive Producer

Jodie Foster

Executive Producer

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Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché: Trailer 1

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Nell Minow

AWFJ.org

The highlight of this documentary is the footage of Alice herself, witty, energetic, and creative. This recognition of her contributions is long overdue and most welcome.

Oct 13, 2021

Full Review

Kathleen Sachs

Chicago Reader

It's the awkward editing, superfluous celebrity interviews, and an emphasis on the search for inconsequential facts that obscure what should be its focus - Guy-Blaché's formidable talent.

Mar 25, 2020

Full Review

Kevin Maher

Times (UK)

Cineastes, film nerds and feminists alike will be gripped by this documentary portrait of Alice Guy-Blaché. Who? That's the point.

Rated: 4/5

Jan 17, 2020

Full Review

Daisy Leigh-Phippard

Screen Queens

Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, except backwards and in heels. Alice didit in corsets and with no clear rules about how to even go about creating cinema. Businesswoman and artist both, the first female filmmaker is revealed in full glory.

Feb 21, 2022

Full Review

Sandie Angulo Chen

AWFJ.org

May this documentary correct the injustices done to this pivotal filmmaker's legacy, simply because she was a woman.

Oct 13, 2021

Full Review

Cate Marquis

AWFJ.org

Presented in a visually lively style, Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy Blache goes way beyond merely chronicling the facts of Alice Guy Blache's life...

Oct 13, 2021

Full Review

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Synopsis

The life and work of the first female film director.

Director: Pamela B. Green
Executive Producer: Geralyn White Dreyfous, Jodie Foster, Hugh Hefner, John Ptak, Robert Redford, Regina K. Scully, Jamie Wolf
Screenwriter: Pamela B. Green, Joan Simon
Distributor: Zeitgeist Films, Kino Lorber
Production Co: Wildwood Enterprises
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 15, 2019, Limited
Rerelease Date (Theaters): Apr 26, 2019
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 23, 2019
Box Office (Gross USA): $101.1K

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