Women Talking

Grade: C-

I was about to write “Women Talking would make a great play” – but if I saw it on stage, I doubt I’d think it was great, but I’d receive it better than I did the movie, and I’d feel like it was where it belonged. So, instead I will say that Women Talking is best suited for the theatre rather than the theater. It doesn’t all take place in the same location, but it could. It is almost all conversation and no action. You don’t really see them doing any of the things they talk about, but they sure sit around and chat up a storm about it. On the stage, this would be understandable, but is a detriment on the big screen, where we are used to showing rather than telling.

The movie – coming from a novel by Miriam Toews, based on real events – introduces us to a community of women, living off the grid in countryside farmland. They were victims of rape/attacks by men. Some have their children with them. Some have been there all or most of their lives. The logistical questions regarding their living situation are either unanswered or glossed over. We’re supposed to just accept that they lucked into this property and housing that was available, and somehow have a system for dealing with how to get food, bathe, and wash their clothes. The film is a day and a half in their lives, as they get together to discuss their options, which boils down to three: do nothing, stay and fight, or leave. The one man in the community, mild-mannered harmless August, is there to be a schoolteacher for the kids, and take the minutes in these meetings. He writes down the pros and cons of each choice, and tries not to interject with his opinions.

The movie isn’t in black-and-white, but the colors are drab and faded, like a recently taken Polaroid that is still developing. This makes the nighttime scenes difficult to see, and I wondered if there was something wrong with the projection in the theater. There are certain individual moments, lines, and speeches which are inspired and powerful, but these little flickers of life aren’t enough to bring the film out of the swamp. I wouldn’t complain if we got some acting Oscar nominations from here; there are wonderful performances. My two favorites came from Ben Whishaw as August, and Jessie Buckley, who I’ve singled out a few times before. Her character here is constantly angry and sarcastic, so we get the feeling she has been sitting on some undealt-with stuff.

I’ve always been intrigued by the professional journey of director Sarah Polley. The first time I saw her was in 1999 in a film called Go. Remember all those movies from the second half of the 90s that tried to be the next Pulp Fiction? Go came the closest for me. Amidst a large ensemble of big names, Sarah Polley – the star – effectively carried the whole thing. She also appeared in The Sweet Hereafter and Dawn of the Dead, but now, at age 44, is almost exclusively on the director’s chair. Needless to say, I perk up and pay attention when I hear she is doing something.

This is a movie that has ambition, and I can at least respect and appreciate what it wanted to do. Everybody has something to say here, and it’s worth saying. It’s too bad that the cinematic result is so dreadfully dull and droning. Women Talking. What an appropriate title.

Grade: C-