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Without rehashing the political flap over Hillary Clinton’s outburst at a Congolese student, let’s juxtapose Bill and Hillary with husband and wife, Nora Ephron and Nicholas Pileggi. This way we can shift the dialog from the political arena to the box office and swap headline-stealer Bill for headline-stealer Nicholas.

I want to point out that there’s a lot to admire about Bill and Hillary. But if I had to ascribe one admirable attribute to both of these luminaries, it would be a rambling phrase that goes something like this: their perfect ability to remind us of their perfect power struggle. Or is it a power struggle? Like every daughter with a father or every sister with a brother, not to mention a wife with a husband, I’ve dabbled in my own share of I-am-King episodes.

Let the battles begin

Call my testy battles “human nature” or call them code for “Battle of the Sexes”. Whatever. They never satisfied, perhaps because the epicenter of my bouts, the family kitchen with the gingham tablecloth, wasn’t exactly as intoxicating as Bill and Hillary’s world-class stage, replete with diplomatic showdowns, foreign countries, the White House, CNN correspondents and a translator.

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While Bill and Hillary could invent an entire musical chairs board game involving President, First Lady, Senator, Secretary of State and Private Citizen pawns, I’m still looking for a Patty Cake partner. The bottom line is that these two big grown-ups are embroiled in power struggles that make me feel like a toddler.

But Hillary can opt out of the game at any time. She smashed the glass ceiling and mowed down the roadblocks. She’s a bona fide rock star and career women everywhere marvel at her for good reason. It takes a village to get a woman front and center in certain arenas. Although female authors have struck some balance of power at the bookstores, Hillary feels the cold draft coming from the female titans in the film business.

On the big screen, balance is an airplane missing a wing 

    

Male filmmakers rule and Hillary winces. Guys overwhelmingly channel wives, sisters, daughters and mothers. And what do we make of that? Film goers slurp up men’s women all the time with fantastic box-office results. Mum’s the word.

But imagine a male NYU film student having the balls to ask Julie & Julia’s writer/director, Nora Ephron, what her husband, writer/producer Nicholas Pileggi, thinks about the current state of the film business. Burp. Nicholas “Goodfellas” Pileggi that is — the latest headline-stealing husband who’s got a real-life courtroom drama underway, courtesy of a mob mistress who’s suing him over his latest crime drama. Groan. Here’s how this would go down:

NYU student:  It’s really great to be in the same room with you. 

NORA:  Thank you. Likewise.

NYU student:  I’m a big fan. I loved Sleepless in Seattle. That was 1993. Meg Ryan was hot and the film business was broad. There were a lot more studios back then, like Carolco, Orion and Picturehouse. Now things have gone to crap. Studios are making franchise movies, tent pole movies and they’re shrinking out a segment of films that I really like — like the smaller, character-driven kinds of films you make. But what I’m really wondering, actually, is what Nicholas Pileggi thinks about all this. How does he feel about this monumental shift in the film industry?

NORA:  What about my film?

NYU student:  Huh?

NORA:  You want me to tell you what my husband thinks? He doesn’t have a movie out right now. I do. He hasn’t had a movie out since 2007.

NYU student:  You’re married?

NORA:  You’re not the least bit interested in me or my work or my opinions. And you want me to channel Nick? What do you care about Nick? You don’t even know him. Because if you did, you’d know about me and my work and you’d know we were married.

NYU student:  He’s a filmmaker and I figured you guys were divorced.

Well, in reality, Nora should be able to get solid advice from Hillary. After all she’s the one surviving showdowns with Bill, students and diplomats on a regular basis. So let’s face it, when both of these distinguished women happen to pick the same date and time to renew their nuptials to Bill and Nick, respectively, and when both battle it out for guest count, because there’s nothing like an honest match, you know where I’m heading for a taste of real power and some good champagne: The Clintons.

Laurene Williams is the writer/director of Phil Cobb’s Dinner for Four.