In 2010, women of an isolated religious community gathered to decide their own and their children’s faiths.
The title accurately describes what the film delivers. Sarah Polley deserves every award she’s got and every award she eventually didn’t. As an actress, writer, and director, she has managed to stay on top of her game, and Women Talking took her once more to the Oscars. Other than herself, there is a lot of talent gathered in the film. Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, Frances McDormand, and the rest of the cast shine in front of the camera and deliver Oscar-worthy performances. For a single-location film, it is well-paced, and director of photography Luc Montpellier spectacularly frames those performances. So, from a filmmaking point of view, it is an outstanding achievement.
My objections lie with the narrative itself. I am unaware of the story behind the script, but it felt like a feminist version of 12 Angry Men (1957). Sticking only to Miriam Toews and Polley’s script, here’s how I experienced it: All men are monsters, and all boys will end up probably like their fathers. The only exception is the man who records the events, August (the amazing Ben Whinshaw), who can be described as unopinionated, spineless, castrated, or mentally inept. According to the film, that is a good man!
On the other hand, all women are dynamic and highly opinionated, and even though they don’t know how to read or write, they are as eloquent, if not more, than August, who graduated from the University. You work out how someone who has never read a book in their life can argue in such depth and academic level philosophical and sociopolitical issues such as existentialism, history of religion, the difference between God and what people say about God, gender roles, behaviourism, and education. I praise the actresses for their eloquence, but if that is not head-scratching, I don’t know what is.
Ultimately, how much you are into these fields of study will determine whether you love them or loathe them. I did neither, but due to how arguments and counterarguments are structured, I most certainly found them profound and intriguing.
As much as I love films, I live in the real world and get to see that men, women, and non-binary people have the capacity to physically and mentally heal and harm one another – no exceptions! Let’s do more of the former rather than the latter.
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Solidarity for all the innocent lives who suffer the atrocities of war!
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