Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
If you finished Bonding on Netflix, a new series starring Zoe Levin as a dominatrix, and you’re looking for more BDSM content, there’s no shame in that. (There is, however, shame in styling the title as BONDiNG, as Netflix does, and as I refuse to do.) Might I suggest for you the wonderful and underrated 2017 film, Professor Marston and the Wonder Women, which is now streaming on Hulu?
For those who don’t know, “Wonder Woman,” a comic whose hero ties up her adversaries with her golden lasso and wears thick metal bracelets, was full of not-so-subtle dominatrix imagery back when the comic first debuted in the 1940s. You can thank “Wonder Woman” creator William Moulton Marston for that, who, before he was a comic book creator, was a psychologist, the inventor of a lie detector, and most likely a kinky mofo who had a polyamorous relationship with his wife, Elizabeth Holloway Marston, and their partner, Olive Byrne. It’s a complicated feminist history to the character that Gal Gadot has thousands of little girls looking up to, to be sure, and those who want to learn more should check out historian Jill Lepore’s excellent book, The Secret History of Wonder Woman.
Professor Marston and the Wonder Women is a good resource, too. At heart, it is a love story about Marston (played by Luke Evans), his wife, Elizabeth (Rebecca Hall), and their polyamorous life partner Olive Byrne (Bella Heathcote). The accuracy of the film has been debated: Marston’s granddaughter disputed that her grandmother had a sexual relationship with Byrne, as is depicted in the film, prompting director Angela Robinson to write a rebuttal, defending her interpretation “of Olive and Elizabeth as bisexual and their relationship with William Moulton Marston as polyamorous.” (Elizabeth Marston and Byrne did live together for 38 years after Marston died, after all.)
On screen, that relationship is just as beautiful, music-swelling and moving as any Jane Austen novel adaptation—it just so happens to involve three people. And yes, the film shows the kinky stuff, too. But unlike Netflix’s Bonding, which gives in to the temptation to mock the BDSM-inclined, Professor Marston offers a judgment-free look at the lifestyle that later inspired the Amazon hero. The film is rated R, but it hardly feels that way—these sex scenes are all about love, discovery and wonder, and less about pornographic depictions of body parts touching other body parts.
In the film, Marston’s eyes are opened by the world of bondage and feminism, and his two lovers inspire him to create a new kind of comic book hero: A woman who didn’t need no man, but also liked to be tied up. We get a fun montage of real-life provocative panels, and when Marston’s told to “cut the kinky shit” after the National League of Decency bans the comics, he triples it.
Though reviews for the film were overwhelmingly positive, Professor Marston and the Wonder Women was more or less overlooked by moviegoers and entertainment journalists alike. Luckily, it’s now on Hulu for all to watch. Whether you’re looking for some new kinky content after Bonding, or you just want to learn a little more about the surprising, sexy history behind “Wonder Woman,” you won’t go wrong with Professor Marston. But the film is also more than both of those things—it’s a revolutionary depiction of love. And sometimes love involves a lot of rope.
