Film review: ‘WOMEN TALKING’ by Nick Gardener from ‘Built For Speed’
Women Talking, which is written and directed by Sarah Polley and based on the 2018 novel by Miriam Toews, powerfully and confrontingly explores the impact of sexist social structures on the status of women. A remarkable cast that includes, Jessie Buckley, Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Frances McDormand and Ben Wishaw bring to life this unusual and important story.
Set in Manitoba, Canada in 2010 (although it looks like it could be in the 19th Century), the film sees a group of women in an unspecified religious community confront a terrible reality. Some of the community’s men have been drugging and raping women. While the accused, having been arrested, are held in an adjacent city awaiting trial and the community’s other men are there trying to post bail for them, a group of the community’s women congregate in a barn to decide if they will take no action, leave the community or stay and fight for a an equal society. Also, attending is one of the men, the thoughtful and compassionate schoolteacher, August (Ben Wishaw) who keeps minutes of their meeting as none of the women have been permitted to learn to read and write.
The film recalls The Handmaids Tale in its exploration of a subculture of oppressed women but also 12 Angry Men with its closed environment and intense dialogue that prosecutes the morality of their society. A talky film like this requires very strong writing and acting to avoid being too static or too much like a filmed play. Thankfully, Sarah Polley’s script, while at times a little too bluntly didactic, is smart and provocative digging into the issues of misogyny, domestic violence, political resistance, religion, the unequal distribution of power in society and the uncertainty and complexity of liberation.
This is also an acting feast as the superb cast convincingly capture the tumult of conflicted emotions the women feel about potentially giving up the life and the principles of faith they have always known to try and save themselves and their children from harm. Jessie Buckley, Claire Foy and Rooney Mara are wonderful as the fierier younger women while Sheila McCarthy and Judith Ivey are superb as the more philosophical older women. Even the assortment of youngsters and teen actors are very good. While the subject matter is serious, Polley weaves in moments of humour based around the women’s various quirks including Greta’s (Sheila McCarthy) penchant for telling anecdotes about her beloved horses.
Women Talking is, as its title suggests, mostly about the often-heated debate between the women but Polley manages to create an aesthetically interesting film employing a bleached palette that reflects the women’s despondent state while also including vast vistas of the countryside to convey a promising world beyond their restricted community. There’s also an evocative score from Hildur Guðnadóttir and among the few references to the present day or at least recent past, the inclusion of the Monkees’ Daydream Believer’.
A very talky film like this won’t appeal to all tastes but for most, the vital issues it prosecutes and the way in which they are represented through the superbly rendered characters will resonate powerfully.
Nick’s rating: ****
Genre: Drama.
Classification: M.
Director(s): Sarah Polley.
Release date: 16th Feb 2023..
Running time: 104 mins.
Reviewer: Nick Gardener can be heard on “Built For Speed” every Friday night from 8-10pm on 88.3 Southern FM.