If the four major feature films Joan Micklin Silver directed between 1975 and 1988—her self-financed first feature Hester Street (1975), Between the Lines (1977), Chilly Scenes of Winter (1979), and Crossing Delancey (1988)—now seem considerably more radical than they did upon release, it’s not because these works weren’t well-received at the time. As the director herself noted in interviews throughout the 2010s, all of these films were surprise box-office successes, earning three to ten times their production cost; Hester Street even garnered Carol Kane an Oscar nomination for Best Actress, which was the first time a female-directed movie had appeared in that category since Dorothy Arzner’s Sarah and Son (1930). Still, even without, say, an Ishtar (1987) to tarnish her name, opportunities were scarce. By the time of her passing on December 31, 2020, Silver had directed more hours of educational shorts and made-for-TV movies than feature films. One could say that her regard in the broader film culture was not dissimilar to the judgment that Crossing Delancey’s bookish socialite Isabelle (Amy Irving) backhandedly bestows upon her potential suitor, pickle vendor Sam (Peter Riegert): “You’re a nice guy.”
As harsh as that sounds, it’s much warmer than the attitude Silver encountered in the industry, if a remark made to her in her first meeting with a studio head (which she relayed to Shonni Enelow for a 2017 piece) is any indication: “A woman filmmaker is one more problem we don’t need.” While sexist vitriol and institutionalized discrimination undoubtedly limited the kinds of projects available to Silver during her lifetime, the measured praise
