Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman

Despite its awful title, this film had potential. I wanted to be able to like this doc and herald it as an important feminist work for opening the discussion between women of different cultures on what love and marriage means to them, but I'm so put off by Fox's seemingly willful ignorance about her own life that it negates the film's positives.

Fox is so self-obsessed and unwilling to admit her own role in the relationships she chooses and the realities of how most other relationships work that I find it nearly unbearable to watch. I think there's a way to eschew traditional relationship roles without being so selfish or purposefully oblivious that you can't sympathize with those who adhere more to traditional roles.

I mean, any single adult who enters into an ongoing sexual relationship with a married person and doesn't for a second think "what happens if we get discovered?" nor acknowledges in any way prior to being discovered that said discovery might be the catalyst in the demise of the adulterous relationship is a tad delusional.

And the whole "I don't get married because I've seen men do bad things and I don't want to get emotionally hurt" bent just seems so naive. What does marriage have to do with the capacity to be hurt emotionally? Obviously Fox was hurt by the fact that she couldn't talk to her lover after his wife discovered their sexual relationship. The only way to not open yourself up to being emotionally hurt by relationships is to not BE in any relationships, married or otherwise. Is that not common sense to liberal New York narcissists? Guess not.

Fox's annoying hubris is a shame, because if she could have just shut up about her own stupid life for a second, she might've had a good idea for a documentary—and it would have been a hell of a lot shorter than a tedious six hours. Instead we're presented with someone who proclaims her alleged freedom while showing us how miserable her decision to be "free" makes her. Um, hooray?

How do films like this get selected by film festivals? I seriously question the programmers who allow such a blatant waste of screen time. I am quite certain there are hundreds of films more deserving. I found "Flying" to be self-indulgent drivel, undeserving of an audience. As she travels the world exposing herself as an "ugly American," the filmmaker ignores cultural differences, choosing instead to apply American values to foreign situations. I wish particularly disturbed by the way she exploits her own family. Often contrived, always boring, director Jennifer Fox should have spared us this painful cinematic experience by staying home and continuing therapy.

So, after the film's subject drones for hours about various women's issues, I'm supposed to take her seriously as a woman of substance and a feminist. Give me a break.

What kind of feminist:

1. Gets involved in bad relationship after bad relationship without recognizing her own self-destructive behavior and poor choice in partners? 2. Has an affair with another woman's husband and (apparently) feels no remorse for destroying a marriage? 3. I may not have heard this correctly, so my apologies if I misunderstood, but did I hear her say she'd had multiple abortions? I'm pro-choice, but abortion isn't birth control, lady. If you want women to achieve true sexual liberation, you best start behaving like a woman worthy of it.

In my mind, Jennifer Fox is not a woman to admire and this film is nothing but a vehicle for her own neurosis and narcissism.

As a husband and father of two daughters, I shudder at the idea of women looking at Ms. Fox as a role model.

OH MY GOD - this woman needs to read the book HE'S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU. She tries to convince us that she is a "free woman" by choice, but it is painfully obvious she is only a free woman because the men who deign to sleep with her don't want her for anything more than sex. She spends the ENTIRE series discussing these horrendous relationships, for which she is obsessed. And she is completely remorseless when her married "lover's" wife finds out about their relationship. And she completely ignores the obvious meaning when he not only doesn't leave his wife, but virtually cuts off all contact with her. She even misses the import of her Swiss boyfriend deciding to work all day when she comes to visit him in Switzerland. It's really sad. Instead of portraying strong womanhood, she is one of the worst examples of a female's obsession to be loved and accepted by men. When will these women realize they ARE NOT any better than the women who have chosen to be in asymmetrical relationships with men but do it in a way that makes them happy.

I could only watch the first 1 hour. Jennifer Fox has made junior high school girls look smarter than her. Come on, 42 years old, living in New York and behaving like it's your first crush. In these films she is clueless, and comes off very immature and childish. However, there are a few of her friends, who I say bravo too, through illness and divorce they show great courage, however somehow the films doesn't portray bravery and courage, it documents how little women have grown. Jennifer narrates the film and it is totally about her failure at love, it is easy to understand why she is not successful. All this giggling and laughing... Come on, grow up. It is a disappointment to see a women who is obviously talented still obsessed about having a man. Her lover lives in Africa and is married... I think that is all you need to know. She spends the entire movie agonizing over this. She visits all her friends and most of them are just as clueless. I was astonished , in disbelief she actually produced this film and thought that it told a relevant story.