Louise Unmack Kjeldsen / Denmark, Norway & Germany / 2026 / World Premiere / 74′
An album of photos takes us through a woman’s life from birth to motherhood and well into middle age. This is Louise Unmack Kjeldsen, and her new documentary describes the time where her life turned upside down.
There’s nothing new about the menopause, and the film doesn’t bring anything groundbreaking to the party. It simply chronicles the past and present of a condition that occurs in every women’s life, to a greater and lesser degree (by contrast men have to deal with the andropause).
The Danish-Norwegian director describes how as an active and busy person she suddenly found herself struggling with insomnia and depression—without at first connecting it to menopause. And thus begins a journey from confusion to discovery, collaborating with women all over the world, some of whom take part as the film unfolds blending scientific research, exposing taboos and male bias along with citing more recent developments.
Reflecting back 200 years ago there was no world for the menopause, as the medical world showed no interest in exploring a condition that nevertheless effects every woman during their lifetime. Even further back in history, folklore classified women as being hysterical or even witches with contingent associations of negativity.
Crucially, while science has made spectacular advances in medicine these have not involved women and the menopause. Kjeldsen highlights the possible loss of ‘sense-of-self’ and dignity women feel in later life hampered by the confusing side effects that are both mental and physical. Discussing these setbacks can risks jeopardising women’s personal standing and position in the workplace.
Kjelden joins forces with three scientists who are committed to providing answers to sufferers everywhere but must also battle lack of funding and resistance to their research. The project explores how medicalising the menopause can actually threaten women’s equality by portraying them as fragile. The reverse is also relevant: over the course of history women have been kept out of clinical trials because of their fluctuating hormone profiles that could skew the results, particularly for non-white women. This anti-female bias also showed up after the advent of HRT in the 1960s. Rather than a satisfying breakthrough to benefit women themselves, it seems to have been promoted by male doctors who vaunted HRT as a therapy to avoid women becoming dull and unattractive to the opposite sex, rather then empowering them by making them actually feel better, rather than just looking better.
Depression is also an issue during this time of life. A psychiatrist in Melbourne describes having done her early case studies at an extreme psychiatric unit where patients were kept for many years because of illness surrounding hormone fluctuations. Her HRT trial gave the women relief and release from internment. But negative reports also flooded in about the side effects of the therapy that were misleading in the way they were being presented, rather than indicated, leaving women to stay clear and remain confused.
Extreme symptoms associated with the menopause can debase sufferers who describe being unable to function mentally or physically. Sadly this is a setback than can continue for a decade. In Chicago a female professor is working hard to find out whether an inability to thermoregulate during menopause can adversely affect a women’s brain and have links to Alzheimer’s disease (which seems more prevalent in women).
In the 1990s’ a botanical approach started to come to the fore involving treatments with plants such as red clover, black cohosh and sage amongst others. Along with complimentary therapies, acupuncture and reflexology have reported success in treating symptoms.
Menopause Mystery is a comprehensive documentary that sheds light on an age-old story, is well made and moves swiftly forward covering multiple aspects of this time of life, past and present, providing information on recent medical advances and anecdotal evidence from women themselves.
Menopause has always been a huge taboo, and not everyone is aware of it, women failing even to discuss it amongst themselves or with their families creating a ‘lost generation’ who have felt shame and confusion. But now that is all changing. The word is out and not only doctors, but actors, celebrities and royals have taken on the subject and are ‘roaring’ to create buzz around a condition that effects every sphere of life.
WORLD PREMIERING | CPH:DOX COPENHAGEN | THESSALONIKI DOC FEST