If you are an English major, you may have read, perhaps more like dissected, Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story The Yellow Wallpaper. It’s famous as a piece of feminist literature that discussed female physical and mental health at a time (1892) when it was just easier to call a woman hysterical.

The debut film THE YELLOW WALLPAPER stays close to the text while still taking some liberties. In it, Jane, a writer and young mother, is ordered complete rest by her physician husband, who then takes her to a remote country estate for the summer.  There, she is set up in a room covered with an odd yellow wallpaper that she instantly hates. More than that, she becomes obsessed with it, becoming convinced that it is trapping a woman that must be freed.

This film brought back memories of spirited classroom discussions, and I also enjoyed the fresh creative elements added in by the filmmakers. THE YELLOW WALLPAPER was written by Alexandra Loreth and Kevin Pontuti, and directed by the latter.  It stars Loreth, Joe Mullins, Clara Hart, and Jeanne O’Connor. It was filmed in Bruff, Ireland. It’s 99 minutes long and unrated.

THE YELLOW WALLPAPER will be available on digital platforms starting March 29, 2022.

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