Five Branded Women

Five Branded Women is a 1960 war film directed by Martin Ritt and staring Silviana Mangano, Vera Miles, Barbara Bel Geddes, Jeanne Moreu and Carla Gravina. It's mostly remembered for being the reason why Vera Miles had to wear a wig while she was filming Psycho. The film follows five women from a Yugoslavian village during the second World War who all slept with the same German soldier. As punishment, the villagers shave the women's heads and exile them from the village. The five band together and eventually join the partisans.

The film has recently come back to mainstream attention, being featured regularly on TV and has been praised as one of Ritt's better films. It puts a unique spin on the war drama by having the women involved in the actual combat as opposed to sitting on the sidelines.


 * Action Mom: Mira, who takes up the action while she's pregnant.
 * As Long as It Sounds Foreign
 * The Baby Trap: Marja only slept with the German because she wanted a baby.
 * Bald Woman: Not fully bald, just close cropped.
 * Casanova: The German soldier. Also one of the partisans.
 * Chekhov's Gun: An immediate example. Jovanka takes a pistol off a dead soldier and a few minutes later uses it to kill a pair of soldiers who try to rape her and Ljuba.
 * Chekhov's Gunman: The man who cuts Jovanka's hair at the start turns out to be the leader of the partisans.
 * Death by Sex:.
 * Debate and Switch: Mira and Marja worry about what Mira's baby will be like when it's half-German. Their prisoner says "what if it's a good German" and the women icily reply "how can you tell which is which when they invade your country?" and that's all that's said.
 * Driven to Suicide: One of the women at the start, though they convince her not to.
 * Dyeing for Your Art: Four of the five leads shaved their heads for the film, except Barbara Bel Geddes who wore a wig.
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar: The film implies as heavily as was possible in the 1960s that the German soldier gets castrated for sleeping with the town's women.
 * Hairstyle Malfunction: Not a wig but the scarf Jovanka used to cover her baldness gets pulled off when a partisan tries to rape her. Seeing this he laughs and runs off.
 * I Have No Daughter/Sister: Ljuba's brother says he didn't stop them from cutting her hair because he agreed with them and Jovanka's mother only gives her a scarf for her head before sending her away from the village.
 * Karma Houdini: Subverted initially as a man who tries to rape Jovanka turns out to be one of the partisans and they end up working together..
 * Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Though it's a little justified with many international actors in the film.
 * Pay Evil Unto Evil: The partisans plan to ambush the Nazis as they are holding a festival in Jovanka's hometown. She does not object to the townspeople being killed either because they are the same people who ousted her from the village.
 * Shaggy Dog Story: The film ends with.
 * Shoot the Shaggy Dog:.
 * Shut UP, Hannibal: When the partisans come to Jovanka's house she is shameless for sleeping with the German and puts them in their place. Too bad that only made them madder.
 * Stay in the Kitchen: The male partisans try to invoke this but the women are having none of it. Of course Mira and Marja end up staying behind because Mira's in labour and they also have to guard their prisoner.
 * Team Mom: Marja.
 * The Unfair Sex: Something of an inversion as when a man and a woman get caught having sex in the bushes when they're supposed to be on watch, the woman is punished too despite the man being the one who initiated everything.
 * Took a Level in Badass: All five of the women, who join the partisans.
 * Traumatic Haircut: Truth in Television, all five women get their hair cut off for sleeping with the German soldier. Only Jovanka's is actually shown on screen.