8 Women
8 Femmes
For the average filmgoer, there is a lot about 8 Women by which one could be put off. For starters, it’s French. It has a cast comprised entirely of females, which of course would turn off most male movie fans. It feels strongly like a stage play, a criticism of other cinematic works, always vaguely tinged with the scent of the low-rent; the play feels like one put on by a cast of talented but nervous amateurs. That’s not entirely fair. It’s more like a musical put on by the shy. John Q. Multiplex will probably want to skip this one altogether.
Knowing that, it is an interesting and nearly unclassifiable film, one that undoubtedly took a lot of moxie to market in the U.S. at all. Yahoo! Movies describes it as “Art/Foreign, Comedy and Crime/Gangster” but really it’s a fluffy, super saturated 50’s chick murder mystery - with songs! Adapted from multilingual Robert Thomas’ non-musical play of the same name, it feels like a play. The characters inhabit basically one room, one costume, one day, and the overall tone at the beginning is of a serene surreality. As the truths come to light, it becomes more and more naturalistic. As a musical fan, I am not thrown by music numbers popping into scenes, but 8 Women’s songs felt tacked on somehow; the dialogue did all the work, the songs merely padded the time. However, the whole film is charmingly absurd and chock full of surprises. In fact, the song interruptions and stagings actually feel less implausible than some of the plot twists. It all boils down to an amusing novelty piece with nine totally yummy costumes.
All of the radiantly beautiful actresses draw distinct and colorful characters out of their apparently obvious archetypes. We never really see father and husband Marcel, but he is always present in the air. His character fluctuates with every word out of the women’s mouths. Anchoring the group is Gaby (Catherine Deneuve), mother of two daughters, daughter and sister and wife and boss. She is the hub of the household, and the cool blue jet of reason in this estrogen-thick atmosphere. Her daughters, Suzon and Catherine (Virginie Ledoyen and Ludivine Sagnier) are apparently guileless and clever and stuffed with sisterly secrets. Her own sister, Augustine (Isabelle Huppert) is the “biggest” character in the mix - she screams and fumes and her hair is the only hair that becomes mussed. Augustine is the polar opposite of her sister, a pinched and comically tragic spinster, but for the narrative, she serves as the instigating force for most of the action. The servants, steadfast Chanel (Firmine Richard) and sultry Louise (Emmanuelle Beart), as most servants do, know more and do more than they let on. Finally miserable miserly matriarch Danielle Darrieux winds up the wicked household. The eighth woman is Gaby’s sister in law, Pierrette (Fanny Ardant), who is singlehandedly reinventing the art of making love to the camera. She is so seductive that you never quite rule out the possibility that she was sleeping with her brother Marcel, and as far as this plot veers from its opening sense of sweet banality, it’s never really an impossibility.
The ladies have terrific chemistry together and a real sense of fun permeates even the most vicious cat fighting. They circle about each other, bristling with secrets, lies, suspicions, and distrust. It was very reminiscent (while totally different) of Cukor’s 1939 The Women, with its glamorous, sniping debutantes, but missing the puritanical sexual tension of American cinema. If you enjoyed that whipcrack dialogue and jungle red claw marks, you will probably like 8 Women.
MPAA Rating R for some sexual content.
Release date 9/20/02 (NY/LA)
Time in minutes 102
Director Francois Ozon
Studio Focus Features
