Women Talking - Movie Review

Critics Score - 9 of 10

General Audience Score - 8 of 10

Women Talking is a book about a group of Mennonite women living in Bolivia who have a discussion about some unspeakable acts committed by the men in their colony. Despite their unspeakable nature, these women speak about them, I won’t mention them explicitly for the sake of spoilers. For anyone that doesn’t know, the Mennonite religion is a group, similar to the Amish, for the purposes of the general reader, they are people who typically live off the land, very simply and peacefully, in a tight knit group. But anytime a group of men, priests, leaders, elders, call them what you will, flesh and blood human men, put themselves in the place of God and the things say and direct others to do have to be followed as if they’re coming from an almighty source, well, that’s the recipe for a cult. In the film adaptation of Women Talking, a small group of women find a hayloft and discuss what to do about the men in their group who have wielded God and the Bible like a weapon and used it to commit what amounts to atrocities, crimes and human rights violations. To say this film is absolutely enrapturing is an understatement. Although the discussion the film portrays is fictitious, the harrowing events surrounding the discussion are based on actual events that happened to an actual group of Mennonite women in Bolivia. This film carries a scathing message and warning for anyone that can look at a man or group on men in their life that they feel that have to obey, as if those humans were speaking for God. As far as movies go, we all should be listening to these Women Talking.

SYNOPSIS - This film opens and we hear a woman speak, “This story ends before you were born.” We get a bird’s eye view from the ceiling, we’re in a bedroom, a young woman lies on a bed in a nightgown. Her legs are spread open awkwardly, we see what appears to be bruises and or small smatterings of blood on her thighs, gown and sheets. She is waking up, and as she is in a sort of daze, disoriented, she half yells half moans, “Mother!”. As the voice continues to speak, we watch as Mennonite children play on hay bales and in fields that stretch out black against the sky. She speaks of ghosts, Satan, wild female imagination, attackers and entry into the kingdom of heaven. I won’t go further into the main details of the plot to avoid spoiling anything for readers. The color has been stripped almost entirely from the film, you immediately notice the contrast in it has been dialed up so that is looks like the film takes place perpetually an hour after the sun has set. So begins the unraveling of one of the most twisted, perverse and grotesque tales of the abuse of power that is based in reality that I’ve come across in quite some time. 

The director, Sarah Polley, with many years of experience in the filmmaking industry, is able to expertly extract relevant details to slowly unshroud the mystery behind these attacks and what it all means. She is able to do this effectively via a discussion that the women of the colony have in a loft of one of the barns. The women get together and vote on what is to be done, but as the final vote tally is split, there are three main families that represent the colony and a few women that are the heads of these assemble to decide what they should do. As the women meet, Salome (Claire Foy) is one of the more distraught women that begins to stand out early on. Foy’s work here is among some of the best of the year for female supporting roles, she’s brilliant, the anger in her eyes flashing behind her mostly calm exterior. As the women take turns speaking, the dialogue is juggled like a softball between amazing actresses, the Salome character countered on one side by Mariche (Jessie Buckley), who speaks like she should be holding a baseball bat. In the opposite corner comes the delicate voice of the patient yet reasonable Ona (Rooney Mara), even though she’s pregnant, she offers words of hope and comfort in this desperate hour. Despite it’s tough subject matter and the deeper themes mentioned in my introduction, these three heavy hitters step up to the plate and help to hit this film out of the park.

The discussion of this film from a technical level has to start with the writing and direction from Sarah Polley. The color grading seems to be a focal point for the film, it was terribly off-putting for some audiences, and although it took me out of the film a few times, it definitely didn’t wear on my nerves like it did for some others. But it can’t be undersold, this color grading is strong, it’s almost like watching the movie with sunglasses on. Although it matches well with the overall dreary tone and bleak subject matter that the film lives in, the blacks, dark greys and dark blues that fill up the screen are a deliberate creative choice, but it’s certainly more of a confusing choice than a seamless one. Otherwise, Polley’s writing and direction is spot on, the story progresses at an excellent pace through it’s hour and forty-five minute run, even if some of the dialogue is a bit theatrical, the amazing cast pull it off. Speaking of cast, this ensemble is to die for, as if I’m telling you anything new. Claire Foy leads the way in an absolutely brilliant slate of performances. She juggles the middle ground well, right between the guns blazing, ready for war Buckley and the soft spoken, forgiveness prone Mara. These three stand above the many other great actresses. Despite the film’s color, the cinematography is quite excellent, with many sequences of children at play, farmhouses, fields and horses pulling buggies, all drown in the unnatural shadow. The costume design was also fascinating, the floral fabric print of some of the dresses matching curtains, bedsheets or dresses of other girls in the same family. In all, this is a thought provoking, captivating and excellent piece of cinema that moviegoers should make it a point to check out when it drops into theatres next month.

SUMMARY - Despite it’s color grading issues that will seriously bother some folk, the direction and performances are so strong, they assist in helping overcome most of the film’s flaws. General audiences and critics alike will find so much to talk about this holiday and awards season from these Women Talking.