In 2024 two films with a woman as the central character vied for Oscar honours. Barbie lost out entirely for top honours, albeit nominated (along with Poor Things) for “Best Picture” (Oppenheimer won). Actor nominations for Barbie were America Ferrera for Best Supporting Actress (no luck—awarded to Da’Vine Joy Randolph for The Holdovers) and Barbie’s male hanger-on, Ken, played by Ryan Gosling (topped by Robert Downey Jr in Oppenheimer, so Poor Things’ Mark Ruffalo missed out too), with other nominations limited to costume design, production design, best adapted screenplay and music—where it was Ken’s Song, otherwise known as “I’m Just Ken”, gaining the nomination-nod along with “What Was I Made For?” which did win—but the dual nomination was almost a message that (contrary to the theme of the film) Barbie could not possibly be accepted as an independent woman, and could be considered only in conjunction with “her” “man”. Poor Things, however, triumphed. Not only were there eleven nominations, including for Best Director (winner), Best Actress (winner), Best Supporting Actor, along with original score, adapted screenplay, cinematography, film editing, costume design (winner), production design (winner), makeup and hairstyling (winner), but the film was reviewed as “brilliant” with Emma Stone (in the leading role) giving “surely the boldest performance of her career so far” (Geoffrey McNab, Independent); “performance of a lifetime” and “best movie of the year” (Christy Lemire, RogerEbert.com); “non-stop bonkers brilliance” (David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter). Yet is The Academy the final word on good, better, best (or indeed poor, poorest, worst)? When it comes to female directors and films with a feminist base, ethos, and attitude, it fails miserably. Through Barbie and Poor Things, with an excursus into Silence of the Lambs, this chapter contests what counts, when it comes to assessing the value of film, film performance and film direction, considering conflicting views of what is feminist, what is sexist, and the exploitation of women dressed up in a distorted vision of female freedom. Referencing “the male gaze”, is there a feminist counterweight, and does it make a difference whether the director is female or male? The 2025 Academy awards give no cause for considering there is any improvement, with the “best actress” award going to the character depiction of a prostituted woman acting under a male director in Anora. Reviewing the Barbie/Barbie phenomenon, ultimately the question is, is Barbie retrievable or does Barbie need to be retrieved, for indeed arguably hope lies with Barbie whilst the women in Poor Things exist in the realm of a distorted imagination that encapsulates misogyny.