Professor Marston was an interesting man. A professor of psychology, a noted feminist who lived with his wife and another woman together. He was responsible for an important element of the lie detector test and he created Wonder Woman all before dying at a relatively young age of 53.This film depicts how the creation of Wonder Woman was linked between his polyamorous relationship from the late 1920s between his Manx born wife Elizabeth (Rebecca Hall) and their alluring research student Olive Byrne (Bella Heathcote) who was the daughter and niece of radical feminists but was actually raised by nuns.Marston (Luke Evans) himself had ideas that would be deemed to be deviant for the times. He had an interest in bondage, domination, submissiveness as well as the living arrangements with the two women, elements that bled through the Wonder Woman comics.The story is framed through an interrogation of Marston by Josette Frank of the Child Study Association of America who is appalled as to what is being shown in the comics and how this might relate to Marton's own lifestyle.The framing device of the inquiry was clumsy. It did rather mirror the McCarthyism that will soon become all too real a few years later. Heathcote brings the right blend to her character. Inquisitive, vulnerable, sexy and willing to open her mind to new experiences. Hall came across as too brittle and angry. I could never see Oliver falling for Elizabeth. Evans brings some smoldering Welsh temperament to his Marston, passions burning underneath just waiting to ignite.The film was rather uneven, apart from the comic advisory board inquiry, the part where they are caught in their relationship by a neighbour and its aftermath was horribly done. Marston's own family have been critical of the events depicted in this film.Director Angela Robinson is not as daring as she makes out to be. The film is rather vanilla than kinky, the narrative tends to get awkward too often.

Short and Simple Review by WubsTheFadgerThe film shows the story of how Wonder Woman became to be. It is a story that should seem mundane, but Angela Robinson makes it exciting and real. The story is full of extremely sexual dialogue, moments, and visuals. The film is a great character study and also has a good amount of humor spattered throughout. The acting is the best part of the film. Rebecca Hall, Luke Evans, and Bella Heathcote all perform phenomenally. Rebecca Hall delivers probably the best performance of her career as a narcissistic woman who is also brilliant. The pacing is mostly good. The runtime is also a little overlong.Pros: Exciting and real story, great character study, some good humor, amazing acting by Rebecca Hall, good overall acting, and a good endingCons: Some slow pacing and an overlong runtimeOverall Rating:.7.3

Angela Robinson has offered a sweet and fascinating movie based (very) loosely on the creator of the Wonder Woman comic book. Evans, Hall and Heathcote offer complex and flawed characters tied in a three-way romance. Their decision to live a polyamorous lifestyle causes scandal, job losses and a fistfight. It rather brings to mind "Big Love," except that the women are depicted as lovers rather than as sister wives. Robinson offers scene after scene of beautifully-crafted visuals backed by instrumental music. She has a patience in her story-telling that really worked for me. The story imagines the many inspirations that came together to form the Wonder Woman mythos. The oddest thing about the movie is that it supports Fredric Wertham's central claims in Seduction of the Innocent, a notorious 1954 book that nearly destroyed the comic book industry. In Robinson's telling, the Wonder Woman comic *was* filled with sexual imagery designed to manipulate the minds of America's young people. This may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I really enjoyed the film.

I watched this movie at home on DVD from our public library. While it is "based" on a true story there is a large part of it fabricated by the writer/director as her interpretation of what might have happened among the family.It starts in the 1920s, Luke Evans is Professor of Psychology William Marston. Rebecca Hall portrays his wife, Elizabeth Marston. He has a student, a pretty young girl of 22, that starts to work for them, she is Bella Heathcote as Olive Byrne.Much of the story has Professor Marston inventing the lie detector which isn't really accurate, he invented the blood pressure cuff. But this story portrays them using a lie detector as a vehicle to get to the truth of their complicated relationships.They are portrayed as a family of three, not just a man with two female lovers, but also two females with female lovers. Together they had several children. It is presented that Wonder Woman was inspired by his two women and that he wanted to give young girls a role model that would help them realize they had options and powers also.Regardless of the truth presented in the movie it is factual that after Marston died relatively young the two women remained together until Olive died. So there was something there. Altogether a very well-made movie and regardless of the actual relationships Marston really did invent Wonder Woman and the comic books featuring her.