In each of these roles, the femininity of the character—whether it was a tool or being questioned—was a key entry point into the role. While Hollywood didn’t quite know what to do with her, Davis’s fearlessness in portraying so many shades of womanhood made her adept at portraying women who were, in their most basic interpretation, deliciously bitchy but fundamentally trying to navigate a life intent on reducing them to the status of “woman” and little more.
