Annabelle Rogers- Kelly Payne - Milf-s Take Son... -

But the true watershed moment was Grace and Frankie (2015–2022). Starring Jane Fonda (80) and Lily Tomlin (81), it was a show explicitly about two women in their 70s navigating divorce, starting a business, experimenting with lubricant, and having active, fulfilling sex lives. It ran for seven seasons. It shattered the last taboo: that old women are asexual. The show was a hit because millions of women saw their own futures and presents reflected with humor and dignity.

Long live the crone. Long live the matriarch. Long live the complicated, horny, furious, brilliant, messy, visible mature woman. Annabelle Rogers- Kelly Payne - MILF-s Take Son...

The pandemic also played a role. As the world confronted mortality, the industry pivoted toward comfort and depth. The shallow thrill of the teen slasher or the romantic comedy of errors gave way to the quiet power of The Last Dance (documentary) and The Father (starring a near-nonagenarian Anthony Hopkins, but critically, Olivia Colman as his daughter). Hollywood has long treated the lives of women as a three-act structure: Act I is childhood and discovery (the Disney princess). Act II is romance and motherhood (the rom-com lead). Act III was supposed to be brief—the fade to black, the rocking chair, the end of relevance. But the true watershed moment was Grace and