In 1966, Helen Reddy arrives in New York City to record an album, the result of her having won a contest in her home country of Australia. She meets with the record label, only for them to renege on the deal, leaving her stranded with her three-year-old daughter Traci. Lonely and in need of money, Reddy begins singing at small nightclubs and looks up her old friend, rock journalistLilian Roxon. At a party given by Roxon, Reddy meets talent agent Jeff Wald. Reddy and Wald begin dating and Wald takes her on as a client. They marry and relocate to Los Angeles, which Wald feels will offer more opportunities for their respective careers.
Initially, Wald has little success in promoting his wife, as record companies favor male groups. Repeated insistent calls to Capitol Records land Reddy the opportunity to record a single. Wald enlists family and friends to help promote the demo by requesting it on radio stations and soon the B side, a cover of "I Don't Know How to Love Him", becomes Reddy's first hit. They buy a much larger home and begin indulging in the Hollywood lifestyle, with Wald picking up a cocaine habit.
Reddy becomes interested in the burgeoning feminist movement, inspiring her to write "I Am Woman." Though executives pronounce the song "angry" and "man-hating," Wald encourages Reddy to add it to her concert repertoire. Soon, it becomes her biggest hit and a feminist anthem.
Within a few years, she gains eight number one US singles, as well as her own television show and residency in Las Vegas, but the pressures of the industry strain her marriage. Once again, Reddy seeks support from Roxon, only to find her friend in poor health. When Roxon dies of asthma, Reddy attempts to cancel her upcoming concerts, but Wald insists she keep her commitments.
After a successful show, Reddy finds her husband backstage, under the influence of cocaine and assaulting recording company personnel. Overcome by shock and exhaustion, Reddy collapses and wakes up in the emergency room to discover the Equal Rights Amendment, a feminist cornerstone, has been defeated. She returns home and finds she and Wald are deeply in debt, which Wald blames on their accountant. They divorce, sell the house, and Reddy retires from show business in the early 1980s.
In 1989, Traci approaches her to perform at a feminist rally in Washington, D.C. Reddy demurs at first, but the film ends with her performing "I Am Woman" in the National Mall, with thousands of her fellow activists singing along.
Reddy lived in a care facility in Los Angeles before her death one month after the film's Australian release, and her family advised the filmmakers on the project.[1] Moon said she felt great responsibility to Helen to ensure the story was told sensitively: "Before we locked the movie off, Producer Rosemary Blight (Goalpost Pictures) and I felt very strongly that we needed to show the movie to Helen and her family. We did a screening for Helen, her ex-husband Jeff Wald, and her two children. As a filmmaker, sitting in the cinema with Helen Reddy was, and it’s probably going to be, one of the hardest screenings I had to do for the film. I suddenly realised that this is her life and she was watching it through my eyes. During the screening, Helen sang along to her songs, and when she cried, it wasn’t because she was sad that we made the movie, she cried because she found the whole experience so touching, and I think really cathartic in a way."[2]
Screen Australia is the principal investor in the film,[3] alongside Cowlick Entertainment, and arts body Create NSW, with further funding from the Goodship Women's Fund, which supports films with strong social change messaging.
It was reported on 31 March 2020 (before the extent of the COVID-19 pandemic was known) that I Am Woman was scheduled for release in Australia by Transmission Films,[7] in North America through Aqute Media, and elsewhere by Metropolitan (France), Nos (Portugal), Inopia (Spain), Videovision (South Africa), Front Row (Middle East), Bliss Media (China), Scene & Sound (South Korea), Ale Kino+ (Poland), VTI (former Yugoslavia), Cineplex (Taiwan), Golden A Entertainment (Thailand) and Cinesky (airlines).[8]
Premiere screenings were shown at cinemas around Adelaide (star Cobham-Hervey's home town) from 22 to 23 August 2020, presented by the Adelaide Film Festival. It streams throughout Australia on the Stan platform from 28 August 2020.[9]
Critical response
As of October 2021[update] the film holds an approval rating of 67% based on 81 reviews on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 6.1/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "I Am Woman sticks disappointingly close to standard biopic formula, but Tilda Cobham-Hervey's performance keeps this affectionate, watchable tribute from falling flat."[10]
Indiewire declared the film “a cut above other genre entries”,[11] while David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter described it as “entertaining and sharply packaged” with “considerable appeal”. He said of Cobham-Hervey's performance: "The crucial thing is that you really root for Helen — to make it in the first place and then to make it through a nightmarish marriage and come out unbroken. The luminous Cobham-Hervey has you in the corner of this smart, pragmatic, quietly driven woman all the way."[12]
Toronto movie review site That Shelf called it a “sure fire crowd pleaser”.[13]
Moon was awarded the Athena Breakthrough Award at the Athena Film Festival.[6]
A soundtrack was released by Goalpost and distributed by Sony Music Australia on 21 August 2020 (formats: CD cat. no. 19439761892, and digital). It was produced by Bry Jones and Michael Tan, and features Chelsea Cullen who provided the singing voice of Reddy in the film.[14][15]
