WOMEN TALKING movie review

WOMEN TALKING is directed by Sarah Polley, and is based on Miriam Toews’ novel. It stars The film stars Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, Judith Ivey, Ben Whishaw, and Frances McDormand.

In the year 2010, the females of a Mennonite community far removed from the modern world find themselves second-class citizens, treated poorly by their male counterparts. When men rape and drug them, the women refuse to give into society’s norms and morals of forgiving the oppressors. The group of women hotly debate their options, including staying and continuing with life as usual, fighting back, or fleeing for the best of themselves and their families. What decision with the females make?

WOMEN TALKING is set in 2010, but if you didn’t know better, your first impression might place it somewhere in the 1800s. That’s how backwards the world seen in this film is, with women being treated poorly and inferior to men, and a lack of technology. The film features a fantastic cast, and while it’s admittedly a slow burn with limited action and mostly relegated to a single location, it paints an interesting and hard-hitting picture.

World building in WOMEN TALKING is a fantastic asset. It’s a colony so far removed from the modern world that females don’t get to learn how to read, and modern technology is in limited quantities. The sheer existence of a world like this, let alone in the modern United States, is truly shocking. These aspects alone are a wake-up call, and are one of the reasons the movie is worth seeing. Links to the world we know and live in are few and far between and this works to the final product’s strengths.

Casting is another fantastic accomplishment of WOMEN TALKING. Roles from the likes of Claire Foy (FIRST MAN) and Frances McDormand (ALMOST FAMOUS) are hard-hitting, with the movie running the gamut between viewpoints and emotions, not to mention conflicting opinions. These are strong-willed women who’ve been at the mercy of ungrateful and abusive men for too long, but their approaches to solving the problem differ substantially, making for a heated and spirited debate. Nearly the entire film takes place in a single location, and it opts for a “less is more” approach. Males rarely appear on camera, with the most prominent male performance coming from Ben Whishaw (PADDINGTON, SKYFALL). I feared a PG-13 rating (rather than R) would work against this film, but the end result still stands strongly.

The movie itself is solid, though I’ll be the first to admit it won’t be for everyone. There’s very little action, and it’s a film that demands the undivided attention of its audience. A few “intense” moments come here and there, but these sometimes feel out of place and are often issues that don’t get revisited. However, the running time of just over 100 minutes is just about right for a film such as this. While WOMEN TALKING is certainly not a boring film, it’s difficult to say if a movie like this will connect with mainstream audiences. This moviegoer hopes it does; it has a powerful story to tell, and one that needs telling.

WOMEN TALKING has a fantastic mostly-female cast, great set design, world building, and heated debates and arguments that are entirely justified. This is a great film that, admittedly, probably won’t be a hit with everyone. But it shouldn’t stop you from checking it out if you’re seeking a powerful story in need of telling. Recommended.