10 Harsh Truths You Don't Want To Admit About Chris Nolan's Movies

10. Poor Female Characters

Around the time Inception hit cinemas, an inflammatory article hit the web accusing Nolan of "fridging" a large number of his prominent female characters, meaning that he kills them off in order to give the male protagonist a reason to mope around. The article cites numerous examples in Nolan's movies where this occurs: Memento (Leonard's wife), The Dark Knight (Rachel Dawes), The Prestige (Julia and Sarah) and Inception (Mal), and that's without even mentioning Nolan's first movie, Following, which concludes with the protagonist being framed for the murder of a blonde woman. Then there's characters like Ellen Page's Ariadne from Inception, who is never developed as a fully believable human being, but really just a machine to spout exposition and keep the audience up to speed (but more on that later). Are there interesting, living, breathing female characters in Nolan movies? Sure. Carrie Anne Moss' Natalie (Memento) is complex and curious, Hiliary Swank's Ellie (Insomnia) serves a function even if she's secondary to the male characters, and Anne Hathaway's Catwoman (The Dark Knight Rises) kicks as much a** as Batman does, so there's that. Women just don't seem to be a major concern for Nolan, but rather a tool most of the time to serve a narrative function. Hopefully with brilliant actresses such as Hathaway, Jessica Chastain and Ellen Burstyn starring in Interstellar, Nolan might make a little more effort with them this time.