Daughters of de Beauvoir - ACE182.6

Footage of de Beauvoir and Sylvie Le Bon de Beauvoir at feminist demonstration in Paris; commentary says that she and other well-known women signed a declaration that they had had illegal abortions. Millett talks about meeting de Beauvoir once a year and comments that it was strange for her to find a writer being acclaimed as as much of a celebrity as a film star. She says that talking to de Beauvoir always "reminded [her] of the purpose" of their work, and that she could not have written Sexual Politics without The Second Sex. Millett describes the differences of approach in their work, and talks at length about the importance of de Beauvoir’s autobiographical writing to her generation. She considers Old Age (La Vieillesse, 1970) "a very subversive book", as important as The Second Sex. Woman feeding birds; elderly people out walking. De Beauvoir words about people’s reaction to learning that she’s writing about old age, how society expects older people no longer to have the same feelings as younger ones, but to "display serenity", and how everyone should be concerned about old age and try to make it bearable for everyone. De Beauvoir and Sartre playing draughts; commentary says that she became his main carer when he lost his sight. Reading from her book Adieux: A Farewell to Sartre (La Cérémonie des adieux, 1981) over film of Sartre’s funeral procession and of de Beauvoir at the graveside. Photographs of de Beauvoir. Sylvie Le Bon de Beauvoir talks about de Beauvoir’s last years, during which she drank too much and took too many pills. Part of French television announcement (on Vingt Heures) of de Beauvoir’s death. Millett says de Beauvoir’s life was "exemplary". Piercy talks about her reactions to hearing of her death. Oakley doesn’t believe that de Beauvoir achieved the (perhaps impossible) "ideal of the independent woman", though her writing documents the struggle and the contradictions inherent in the attempt. Photographs of the funeral; Millett on de Beauvoir’s part in French history and culture, and on the need to internalise her legacy. De Beavoir and Sartre’s headstone; reading from de Beauvoir’s writing on wanting to change the world, not her place in it. Credits.