In The Company Of Women: Contemporary Female Friendship Films

The first book—length treatment of this popular genre.

From Desperately Seeking Susan, Steel Magnolias, and Thelma & Louise to Desert Hearts, Girl Friends, and Passion Fish, mainstream cinema has seen a wave of films focusing on friendships between women. In the Company of Women is the first critical work to investigate the recent resurgence of this variety of the “woman’s film.”

Examining the female friendship film since the 1970s and setting it against older films

of the 1930s and 1940s, su...