Drama
Regi:
Sarah Polley
Actors:
Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, Frances McDormand
Premiere date:
24. mars 2023
Age limit:
12 years
«Without drive and curiosity.»
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The events formed the basis for the novel “Women talking” by Canadian Miriam Toews in 2018. The book speculated on how the victims would have reacted to the situation if they had been aware of it: Over two days, the women discuss their options, while the clock is ticking: The men are on their way .
Debating Stars
Two weeks ago, the distinguished actress and filmmaker Sarah Polley won the Oscar for her adaptation of the novel into a screenplay. In the film version of “Women Talking”, the women are represented by a formidable star constellation, where talents such as Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, Frances McDormand discuss: Should they continue as before? Fight against the abusers? Go away?
Unfortunately, that doesn’t happen much anymore. Unfortunately, the tragic starting point has not resulted in a film that touches or grips. The stars seem more engaged in their own monologues than in the interaction with each other, the sentences sound written, the characters appear more as mouthpieces for different points of view and settings than as real people, people who have experienced the most cruel abuse.
She is dangerously good
Minimal curiosity
The film language is uninteresting, with certain exceptions the camera shows minimal curiosity for interiors and facial anatomy. One can say a lot of strange things about the theatrical moves in “The Whale”, but an exploratory and floating photograph at least gave the crime scene and the people materiality.
At its worst, “Women Talking” approaches costume drama-illustrated radio theater, and as the title suggests, the text takes top priority. And what are the women talking about? Almost exclusively about the options before them. And issues about the boys they look after, should they be taken on a possible escape? How long will it be before they grow into abusive men?
ISOLATED: The cult members in the film live in isolation, and question whether they should go or stay. Photo: SF studios
sea view
From child to abuser?
It is natural that the isolated cult women in the plot believe that all males are abusers, but is this also the attitude of the film itself? An introductory text has stated that what we see is the result of “female imagination”, and it is, of course, fiction. Nevertheless, perhaps “Women Talking” could have done with a slight problematization of the claim. The HBO series “A Handmaids Tale” is felt to be strong and relevant precisely because the attitudes women suffer from exist in our time, but in Sarah Polley’s film it is more difficult to see the structures themselves that lead to oppression and mistreatment, we only experience the result of them.
No, this was a yawn
The angle is suitable for provoking discussions, but Polley has performed significantly stronger film art in the past, such as the documentary “Stories We Tell” from 2012, where she exploratively and urgently dives into her own family’s secrets – a real story of drive, curiosity and composite characters.
