This year's Oscar nominees may seem to reflect a resurgence of strong roles for women, but compare them to the women stars of pre-Code Hollywood, and 2001 looks like the Dark Ages. [mick la salle]

Davidson romps through the eighteenth century ...Her vast command of its literature and history... is put to use in demonstrating that politeness and manners served hypocritical aims, principally the subjugation of servants and women...