Looking for Simone

SYNOPSIS

When Simone de Beauvoir's THE SECOND SEX was published in 1949, it sent shockwaves through society. Her thousand-page manifesto advocating for gender equality, women’s independence, and the liberation of social norms ignited a revolution in feminist thought. For the first time, a woman articulated a piercing and unprecedented critique of male domination, exposing its mechanisms in a postwar world not yet named, but soon to be recognized, as 'patriarchal.' Yet few people realize the impetus for this groundbreaking book originated in the United States, during a lecture tour de Beauvoir undertook two years before she published THE SECOND SEX.

LOOKING FOR SIMONE (dir. Nathalie Masduraud and Valerie Urrea) dissects the origins and relevance of this bible of feminism, charting de Beauvoir’s fact-finding journey across the US to research her book. This documentary is not a hagiography, nor is it just a look back; it’s a conversation with the present. Featuring reflections from today’s leading feminist thinkers – Judith Butler, Silvia Federici, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and Angela Davis – it honors both the lasting influence of de Beauvoir’s work, while also exploring the blind spots and limitations. The film challenges us to assess how far we’ve come in the fight for gender equality and where we still need to go. LOOKING FOR SIMONE expands upon de Beauvoir’s foundational work, weaving in 75 years of evolving thought on race and gender. It invites viewers into a new era of feminist revolution – one that is joyfully non-binary, unapologetically free, and radically inclusive.