Women Talking – Review
104 Minutes, Rated PG-13
Written and Directed by Sarah Polley
**NOTE: this post will be updated with audio once we actually have the chance to talk about it. Until then, you can read Mark’s review below. Stay tuned.**
Synopsis:
In 2010, the women of an isolated religious community grapple with reconciling their reality with their faith. Based on the novel by Miriam Toews.
Let me open this with a quote by director Sarah Polley:
“I imagined this film in the realm of a fable. While the story in the film is specific to a small religious community, I felt that it needed a large canvas, an epic scope through which to reflect the enormity and universality of the questions raised in the film. To this end, it felt imperative that the visual language of the film breathe and expand. I wanted to feel in every frame the endless potential and possibility contained in a conversation about how to remake a broken world.”
Nailed it. As I came out of the theater, I was struck by how Women Talking, despite being about a very specific set of circumstances in a very specific location, easily implied its relationship to a wider and greater set of circumstances.
Yes, Women Talking is predicated on the idea of a group of women trying to figure out how best to protect themselves and their families, but it’s so much more, it’s hard to describe.
First, then, let’s do the easy stuff. The cast is amazing. If the cast was a a baseball team, it’d be the 1927 Yankees. It’s almost not fair to other movies the amount of talent on display here.
Second, the violent acts that precipitate the discussion are irrelevant. Okay, not irrelevant, but you get my point. They aren’t shown on screen because the film is about the reaction to them, not the actions themselves. That, as most people know, if where the true power lies.
Third, I was surprised that, for a film that could easily slip into full-on, man-hating, witchery, Polley includes–and does not have anyone refute–one of the characters actually saying, “but not all men.” I was shocked, because it was literally the line I least expected to hear. Over the last few years, that phrase is, for lack of a more nuanced comparison, the linguistic equivalent of saying “all lives matter” when discussion race-based violence.
In this story of generational abuse, and in light of the discussion they are in the middle of, to include such a sentiment in the first place and then to have the will to leave it in once in the editing room is simply amazing, and a bold choice by Polley.
The performances, as you would expect, are insanely nuanced. From the most sedate and submissive to the violent eruptions so uncharacteristic in their community, these women–all of them–embody the uncertainty but also the resolve they all feel.
This is not a film for everyone. It’s a slow-burn, character-driven film that is long on idea and short of “wow” scenes like a typical blockbuster. Polley crafts some absolutely beautiful scenes in the midst of this emotional and societal upheaval and draws truly great performances from her cast.
Finally, in a cast this stacked, it’s hard to pick out a single performance or two, but I have to say that Jessie Buckley continues to impress and just completely nails every single scene she’s in.
And realize that I am not taking anything away from any of the other cast members AT ALL.
This is simply a really, really good movie from top to bottom. It’s one I might, if I’m being honest about it, not have been excited for. Boy am I glad I was wrong.
That’s the best kind of trip to the movies.
Women Talking hits select theaters on December 2, expanding wide on December 25, and stars Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, Judith Ivey, Sheila McCarthy, Michelle McLeod, Kate Hallett, Liv McNeil, and August Winter, with Ben Whishaw and Frances McDormand
And remember, if the BEST thing you can say about a movie is that it’s “visually stunning,” then they’ve done something wrong.
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