Festa della Donna 2021 - 'Celluloid Portraits Vintage' - I Bellissimi! - PREMIO OSCAR per la CANZONE Let the River Run; NOMINATION all'OSCAR e ai BAFTA come 'MIGLIORE ATTRICE PROTAGONISTA' (MELANIE GRIFFITH) per UNA DONNA IN CARRIERA - Data di Uscita in ITALIA: 10 Marzo 1989
(Working Girl; USA 1988; Dramedy romantico; 109'; Produz.: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation; Distribuz.: 20th Century Fox)
Candidatura Miglior film
Candidatura Migliore regia a Mike Nichols
Candidatura Miglior attrice protagonista a Melanie Griffith
Candidatura Miglior attrice non protagonista a Joan Cusack
Candidatura Miglior attrice non protagonista a Sigourney Weaver
1989 - Golden Globe
Miglior film commedia o musicale
Miglior attrice in un film commedia o musicale a Melanie Griffith
Miglior attrice non protagonista a Sigourney Weaver
Migliore canzone (Let the River Run) a Carly Simon
Candidatura Migliore regia a Mike Nichols
Candidatura Migliore sceneggiatura a Kevin Wade
1990 - Premio BAFTA
Candidatura Miglior attrice protagonista a Melanie Griffith
Candidatura Miglior attrice non protagonista a Sigourney Weaver
Candidatura Miglior colonna sonora a Carly Simon
1989 - Boston Society of Film Critics
Miglior attrice protagonista a Melanie Griffith
Miglior attrice non protagonista a Joan Cusack
Cast: Melanie Griffith (Tess McGill) Harrison Ford (Jack Trainer) Sigourney Weaver (Katharine Parker) Alec Baldwin (Mick Dugan) Joan Cusack (Cyn) Philip Bosco (Oren Trask) Nora Dunn (Ginny) Oliver Platt (Lutz) Kevin Spacey (Bob Speck) James Lally (Turkel) Robert Easton (Armbrister) Olympia Dukakis (Direttore del personale) Amy Aquino (Alice Baxter) Jeffrey Nordling (Tim Rourke) Elizabeth Whitcraft (Doreen DiMucci)
Musica: Carly Simon
Costumi: Ann Roth
Scenografia: Patrizia von Brandenstein
Fotografia: Michael Ballhaus
Montaggio: Sam O'Steen
Casting: Juliet Taylor
Scheda film aggiornata al:
10 Febbraio 2026
Sinossi:
In breve:
Tess (Melanie Griffith) è una segretaria timida ma ambiziosa. Quando la manager senza scrupoli (Sigourney Weaver) per cui lavora le ruba un'idea, si vendica trattando l'affare al posto suo e portandole via il fidanzato (Harrison Ford).
In altre parole:
Tess Mc Gill (Melanie Griffith), giovane intelligente e combattiva, segretaria di Katharine Parker (Sigourney Weaver), dirigente di una società borsistica di New York, approfittando della forzata assenza di costei, della quale possiede la disponibilità della casa, e conscia di averle proposto invano l'acquisizione di una stazione radio locale da destinare all'industriale Oren Trask (Philip Bosco), decide di trattare da sola questo affare. Non avendo acquisito le caratteristiche di classe necessarie per questo tipo di lavoro - non parla e non appare nella maniera giusta - Tess si avvale dell'intermediazione di Jack Trainer (Harrison Ford), un esperto affarista, non sapendo che costui è l'amante di Katherine. Per quanto riguarda Jack, questi ignora che Tess - della quale nel frattempo si è innamorato - sia la segretaria di Katharine. Costei, tornata improvvisamente a New York e scoperta la trattativa condotta da Tess, tenta, sentendosi defraudata, di bloccare l'operazione. L'intervento di Jack convince il miliardario Trask a dare fiducia a Tess che, a trattative concluse, verrà assunta come dirigente da questi.
In dettaglio:
Tess McGill è una giovane segretaria che vive alla periferia di New York e lavora a Manhattan. Desiderosa di sfondare nell'alta finanza e restia ad accontentarsi della vita ordinaria che conducono molte sue colleghe, Tess rifiuta sistematicamente di scendere a compromessi e, nel giro di sei mesi, arriva a cambiare postazione e dirigente di lavoro quattro volte.
La direttrice dell'ufficio del personale della societĂ per cui lavora le offre un'ultima possibilitĂ : lavorare come segretaria per il "boss" Katherine Parker nel settore fusioni e acquisizioni. Tess accetta e subito inizia a seguire i consigli del nuovo capo, che la invita ad eleggerla suo modello per avere, un domani, successo. Parker si dimostrerĂ subito capricciosa e dispotica, divertita dal fatto di essere coetanea della sua segretaria e di essere in una posizione di vantaggio.
Tess confida a Parker una propria idea di progetto finanziario che potrebbe interessare le Trask Industries; Parker la dissuade invitandola a portarle altre idee, ma in realtĂ si appropria dell'idea della segretaria e cerca di tenerla all'oscuro. Quando Parker si frattura una gamba su una pista da sci e resta costretta a letto per due settimane, Tess scopre del furto dell'idea e decide di riappropriarsi del proprio progetto. Si spaccerĂ per un boss della finanza del calibro di Parker e, coinvolgendo un agente di un altro studio, di cui s'innamorerĂ e che si scoprirĂ poi essere il fidanzato di Katherine Parker, arriverĂ al suo scopo.
Short Storyline:
When a secretary's idea is stolen by her boss, she seizes an opportunity to steal it back by pretending she has her boss's job.
Tess McGill is a frustrated secretary, struggling to forge ahead in the world of big business in New York. She gets her chance when her boss breaks her leg on a skiing holiday. McGill takes advantage of her absence to push ahead with her career. She teams up with investment broker Jack Trainer to work on a big deal. The situation is complicated after the return of her boss.
Detailed Storyline:
Tess McGill is a working-class woman from Staten Island who dreams of climbing the corporate ladder to an executive position. Having earned a business degree via night school, she works as a secretary at a stockbroker firm in lower Manhattan. There, Tess's boss and male co-workers treat her like a bimbo, despite benefiting from her intelligence and business instincts. After one humiliation too many from her scornful boss (he fixes her up with a rival executive, who only wants to do cocaine and have sex), Tess retaliates by posting on a VDT what she thinks of him and of what he's done. This greatly amuses Tess's colleagues, but also gets her fired.
Shortly thereafter, Tess lands another job, this time as an administrative assistant to Katharine Parker, an associate partner at the mergers-and-acquisitions firm Petty Marsh. At first, Katharine seems supportive of Tess, encouraging her to share ideas. Eventually, however, she insists that Tess's proposed purchase of a radio network by Trask Industries would not work out.
When Katharine breaks her leg skiing, she asks Tess to house-sit. While there, Tess discovers meeting notes which reveal Katharine's intention to pass off the Trask Industries idea as her own. Returning home, Tess finds her live-in boyfriend having sex with another woman. Tess dumps him. With Katharine still in the hospital, Tess uses her boss's connections and clothes to ramrod the Trask proposal. With help from her friend Cyn, Tess gives herself a makeover, borrowing Katherine's stylish clothes to look more professional.
Tess schedules a meeting with Jack Trainer, a mergers-and-acquisitions associate from another company. The night before the meeting, she attends (on Katharine's behalf) a dinner hosted by Trainer's firm. Trainer is attracted to Tess, and approaches her at the bar. Yet Jack does not reveal his name, even after she asks directly whether he knows the man she's slated to meet with (himself). Trainer brings Tess to his apartment, after she passes out in a cab from a combination of Valium and alcohol.
Tess leaves early the next day, believing that they slept together. Arriving for her meeting with Trainer and his associates, she is surprised to recognize him from the previous night. They both feign non-recognition. After the meeting, Tess worries that her deal has failed, until Jack arrives at Tess's office. He assures her that they did not sleep together, and that he wants to move forward with her idea. Together, they prepare the financials for her merger proposal, which they present successfully to Trask. Tess and Jack celebrate by giving in to their attraction, and ending up in bed. Thereafter, Tess discovers that Jack has been involved with Katharine, but was planning to break up with her when she went skiing and got injured.
Katharine returns home on the day of the merger meeting. While Tess is helping her get settled, Katharine brings up the Trask merger, claiming she was intent on taking it to Jack, and on eventually giving Tess credit for it. Katharine adds that Jack's strict ethical code has prevented him from looking at another's ideas without verifying the source, ever since he was accused of stealing himself. Jack arrives in response to a call from Katharine, who unsuccessfully tries to seduce him. Tess avoids running into Jack at Katharine's apartment, but accidentally leaves her notebook there before she departs for the meeting. Katharine discovers Tess's deception by finding the notebook, which includes Jack's phone numbers and the scheduled merger meeting.
At the meeting, Tess brings up what Katharine told her about Jack's ethical code, and about his being accused of stealing. Jack insists that it was all a lie. Then Katharine crashes the meeting and outs Tess as her secretary. She accuses Tess of stealing the Trask merger idea. Unable to defend herself, Tess apologizes profusely and leaves.
Tess returns to Petty Marsh a day later, intent on cleaning out her desk. Instead she encounters Jack, Katharine, Trask, and members of Trask's board. Jack sticks up for Tess, who points out a news item which presents a possible risk to the merger's success. She explains to Trask what inspired her plan for his radio acquisition. Trask confronts Katharine, who, when she is unable to explain where Tess's plan came from, is fired.
Tess lands an entry-level job with Trask Industries. She also moves in with Jack. On her first day at Trask, Tess meets a colleague named Alice, whom she takes for her new supervisor. Alice explains that she is actually Tess's secretary. Tess makes it very clear that she considers Alice a colleague, thus proving herself very different from Katharine. At the first opportunity, Tess calls Cyn from her new office and tells her that she has made it.
