Maria Cecilia de Miranda N. Coelho – Who is afraid of Lysistrata?

Eleonora Rossi Drago and Claudette Colbert in Daughters of Destiny (Destinées) (1954): A still from the 1954 film Destinées by Marcello Pagliero, Jean Delannoy and Christian-Jaque, and starring Claudette Colbert, Eleonora Rossi Drago, Michèle Morgan and Martine Carol. The aim of this paper is to analyze the representation of Lysistrata in the episode of the film Destinées (France/Italy, 1954, aka Daughters of Destiny, USA, and Love, soldiers and Women, UK) directed by Christian-Jacque.

The film is composed of three episodes; each one is directed by a different director. The common theme of these stories is the behavior of women in times of war. The three episodes are presented by a male shadow, playing the role of destiny. At the beginning, this male shadowy figure whose silhouette is shown from behind a table informs us that as destiny it does not act but only observes the actions of human beings. The figure then invites us to observe the behavior of three different women faced with the distress of war, each one with a different destiny. The first one, Elisabeth, turned out to be a "victim" of war; Jeanne, the second one, "wanted to take part in the war"; the third one, Lysistrata, managed to "win it". Even though our purpose here is to analyze Lysistrata’s episode, it is necessary to comment on the two other stories so that we may, in conclusion, come to an interpretation of Lysistrata’s presence. I would not call these three stories a trilogy, since they are not three different films or episodes on the same topic, but rather three different stories within the same film.