CRONE: The Wise Woman Hypothesis

New Documentary Unravels the Mystery of Menopause

The subject of menopause, once sidelined to the realms of whispers and shame has recently been elevated into the mainstream by personalities like Oprah, Michelle Obama, Naomi Watts and Gwyneth Paltrow. It’s like they, along with many others, are aware of the giant void of quality information about this incredibly difficult and confusing time.

When the filmmaker’s wife started going into perimenopause, beyond the physical symptoms of hot flashes, body and sex drive changes, sleep issues, and brain fog, she felt a dread that so much in her life was over. She initially researched supplements, HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy) or treatments that might help her feel better. But none of those things would solve the general societal message that her usefulness was largely over.

This new documentary dives into something fundamental, something that will change evolutionary science and elevate our understanding of how we became modern humans and answers why menopause exists. We, in general, accept menopause as something women just get through, so why does it matter? The fact that humans are the only land mammal in the whole biosphere that experience menopause as well as long post-reproductive life is more than enough to energize the question and the pursuit of an answer. This is where we find wife and husband filmmaking duo, Dominique Debroux and Christopher Henze after an eight-year investigation on this issue. The result is a feature documentary called CRONE—The Wise Woman Hypothesis, directed by Henze and produced by Jonathan Sanger, co-produced by Debroux. We join them as they discuss the film.

Dominique: 8 years ago when I was in the throws of perimenopause, and feeling a fearful emptiness, I asked you for help while you were working on a project with NAMS (North American Menopause Association).

Christopher: I had made a film about pregnancy, 40 weeks, and found OBGYN’s to be informed and able to convey useful information with ease.  My immediate thought was, I could ask questions of the GYNs that I was interviewing and come back to you with facts that would ease your menopause concerns.  When I asked the doctors about menopause, they were quick to report treatments for the symptoms you were feeling but also said that those treatments may only have a marginal effect. So, then I asked why does menopause exist? I was told that women now live beyond the historical average age of death, therefore the need to treat menopause is only a recent issue. One doctor told me that he needs to treat menopause to fix “nature’s mistake” of women outliving their fertility.

Dominque: So that obviously didn’t help my dread at all! What did those answers inspire in your thinking?

Christopher: I couldn’t help thinking that nature doesn’t make mistakes and there had to be more to the story. The more I searched, the less I found, and the average age assertion of why menopause exists still didn’t make sense. So to find out more, I needed to talk to a lifespan anthropologist. I found one and she helped me realize that the average age argument is wrong. I found that anthropology completely understudies the influence of menopause on human evolution and underestimates the importance of menopause on how we came to be who we are.

You then told me about anthropologists looking at the effect of cooking on our jaw muscles and how that effected our evolution, so I knew I needed to talk with more scientists. Continuing to dive deeper with more interviews, a new picture emerged that we call “The Wise Woman Hypothesis”.

Dominique: That hypothesis says that I, and women my age and older, have an important role in our society.

Christopher: Yes. Although I’m not sure that the mature women I know feel like they are respected in today’s world but it wasn’t always this way.

Dominique: For me and most older women I know, it does not feel like we matter. Rather, we are told that youth, fertility, or at least the look of fertility, is what is expected and if we don’t have any of that, we are no longer needed. You say it wasn’t always this way?

Christopher: The Wise Woman Hypothesis shows evolutionary proof that women, especially mature women should run the world and that’s the way it actually was for most of human history. Then something happened about 10,000 years ago that changed everything. The movie talks about how we got to the patriarchal shit-show we are feeling now. The movie also gives an idea on how we can fix it.

Dominique: Jonathan, when you first heard about the documentary from Chris, what inspired you to become part of the project?

Jonathan: I have always been surrounded by strong women role models who have had important post-menopausal lives and I knew that you and Chris were on to something central to our civilization. I always felt it was condescending to invoke a “glass ceiling” when discussing the achievements of women, especially older women. The real truth, rather than what we’ve been taught, is that women have infinitely more compassion and the ability to make our world a better place than men.

Dominique: Your wife Carla is a strong and intelligent crone and she showed the movie to a group of prominent crones. What are their thoughts on the movie?

Jonathan: They thought it was timely, important, and especially relevant in today’s uncertainty and challenge of a world led by patriarchy.

Dominique: We have now been communicating about the movie on social media and getting viewers for test screenings. The response has been amazing. So many of the women are expressing feelings like—Yes, I knew this to be true and someone is actually listening to us! Chris, what has been your favorite or more surprising response?

Christopher: I’m happy that audiences are understanding the information and enjoying the film so much. One review I loved was simply, “Wow, Wow Wow!”

Dominique: The movie is about and for women. Chris and Jonathan, why do you think it makes sense that it is directed by a man?

Christopher: Dominique you asked me for help and because I love you so much, the chance to be helpful to you and in service to the feminine was very appealing. That started me out, but once I journeyed down the pathway the story created, uncovering the new information was very rewarding. I can’t answer whether it makes sense for a man to direct this film; it just worked out this way. I hope the information in the film speaks for itself.

Jonathan: I see us (men) as explorers in a world that has been around us but most of us have never seen. This film is intended as much for men as it is for women.

Christopher: Does it make sense to you, Dominique, that I directed this movie?

Dominique: Yes. You have a methodical, logical and relentless way of researching any subject. Especially if it is new to you. I have lived in and battled with our patriarchal society for 58 years and in order to keep from being angry or hurt all the time, I have numbed myself in ways. Your naivete on this subject allowed you to look at women’s issues from a different perspective and uncover facts and fallacies that I had desensitized myself to. You totally turned the journey of menopause 180 degrees for me.

So, gents, beyond test screenings people are asking when and where they can see the movie, what’s the plan for release?

Jonathan: The test screenings are providing us with information on how the story is being digested by the audience. The good news is that the vast majority of testers are responding positively and some have given us insights as to how to make it even better.

Christopher: I’m very excited by how the film is being received by audiences and it’s great to hear about ways to have the story resonate even more. Some parts of this story are information and science heavy; it would be great to add more animation and other scenes so that you can hear as well as see the hypothesis coming together. A good deal of our test screeners have been so moved by the film to ask how they can be part of this “movement” beyond communicating about it. We started a go-fund-me at https://gofund.me/80a37866 to raise the funds to elevate the film and do the finishing steps. People can give and be directly involved in bringing this film and project to the public.

We are also still offering test screenings, go to www.cronestrong.com and apply to host one

Here’s a link to the introduction trailer https://youtu.be/izgo1mkkFSQ