Women Talking

Sometimes the most horrifying stories are based on real life and “Women Talking” was a truly horrific story powerfully acted by an ensemble of phenomenal female actors (and one lone man) and assuredly written and viscerally directed by Sarah Polley. 

This film was truly an ensemble piece and any of the women in the film were deserving of accolades that had unfortunate alluded them this award season. Rooney Mara was the closest to a leading role, and she exuded warmth, love, grace and compassion despite being in a horrendous position. However, the biggest showstoppers and scene stealers were Jessie Buckley and Claire Foy. They had the showiest roles as they negotiated the messy and uneasy roles their complicated characters inhabited. These two ladies should have been nominated for Oscars! Shout out also to Frances McDormand in a small, yet memorable role, and to Judith Ivey, Sheila McCarthy and Michelle McLeod. 

Also, kudos to Ben Wishaw, as the lone male actor, who was brilliant in a restrained and surprisingly layered role that stood out for its tenderness and vulnerability. 

This film was, as stated in its opening, an “act of female imagination”, and it could not have been adapted by a male writer or made by a male director. Polley’s adaptation was smartly written and her direction was intelligent and uncompromising but yet delicate and sincere. Polley presented the story much like a biblical parable - a touch of distance, matter of fact yet true, and with a moral lesson but not didactic or bludgeoningly obvious or saccharinely sincere. She did not shy away from the visceral horror of the truth but yet she did not dwell on them, instead focusing on the complicated emotional journey that such trauma carried. 

Polley should have been nominated for a DGA or an Oscar for directing, and sight unseen, Kazuo Ishiguro may be Polley’s biggest competitor for the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar. 

Luc Montpellier’s flattened and desaturated cinematography took a while to get used to, but it made sense as the film went on where we were shrouded in the same darkness these women were in - isolated, no electricity, uneducated and unsure. These women could be any woman, their features are not important, but their stories are. 

Hildur Guðnadóttir’s score was also hauntingly beautiful with its simplicity which then made the intrusion of modern music slightly jarring yet narratively effective. 

It is unlikely that “Women Talking” will win Best Picture. It is too small, too niche and obviously alienating to the typical Academy voter. But it was truly one of the best films of the year.