Misplaced Pages

The Masculine Mystique is a Canadian docufiction film directed by Giles Walker and John N. Smith and released in 1984.

The film centres on Alex (Sam Grana), Blue (Stefan Wodoslawsky), Mort (Mort Ransen) and Ashley (Ashley Murray), four men whose perspectives on the changing nature of men's sexual and romantic relationships with women in the wake of feminism are explored through both documentary "interviews" and narrative vignettes. Alex is a married father who is having an extramarital affair; Ashley is a single parent, recently separated from his wife but not ready to commit to a new relationship; Mort is a divorced man who is seeking a new relationship; Blue is a single man seeking the "perfect woman".

The film, which had a budget of $489,590 (equivalent to $1,269,218 in 2023), was the first in the National Film Board of Canada's series of "alternative dramas" in the 1980s and early 1990s, which combined dramatic and documentary film techniques. It was created and scripted through an improvisational process, with the film's characters being portrayed by National Film Board filmmakers and their family members rather than by professional actors.

The characters of Alex and Blue were subsequently spun off into the follow-up films 90 Days and The Last Straw, which explored Alex becoming a sperm donor and Blue entering a relationship with a Korean mail-order bride. 90 Days was the most commercially and critically successful of the three films, garnering several nominations at the 1986 Genie Awards. The Masculine Mystique won a Red Ribbon at the 1985 American Film and Video Festival.

References

1. "Masculine Mystique, The". Canadian Film Online (Athabasca University.
2. "Feminist movement changed men's lives; NFB film looks at how men deal with feminism". Montreal Gazette, May 8, 1985.
3. Evans 1991, p. 306.
4. Stukator, Angela (30 May 2013). "Pictures of age and ageing in Cynthia Scott's The Company of Strangers". In Eugene P. Walz (ed.). Canada's Best Features: Critical Essays on 15 Canadian Films. Rodopi. p. 239. ISBN 978-9042015982.
5. "Comedy on artificial insemination travels in bizarre world". Kingston Whig-Standard, September 10, 1987.
6. "The Masculine Mystique". onf-nfb.gc.ca. National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved 22 February 2023.

Works cited

• Evans, Gary (1991). In the National Interest: A Chronicle of the National Film Board of Canada from 1949 to 1989. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0802027849.

External links

• The Masculine Mystique at IMDb
• Watch The Masculine Mystique on the NFB website

This article related to a Canadian film of the 1980s is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e

• 1984 films
• Canadian drama films
• Canadian docufiction films
• English-language Canadian films
• Films directed by John N. Smith
• Films directed by Giles Walker
• National Film Board of Canada films
• 1980s English-language films
• 1980s Canadian films
• 1980s Canadian film stubs