Film Review - Women Talking (2023)

Women Talking is based off of a novel and is written and directed by Sarah Polley and stars Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jesse Buckley and Frances McDormand who are part of a group of women in a secluded colony who are routinely drugged and raped by the men in that colony but one of them has been arrested and the other men leave to post bail, while their gone the women debate whether to stay in the colony and fight or leave and make a new life for themselves elsewhere even if they might forfeit their place in heaven.

Women Talking is a wonderful achievement and praise must go first and foremost to Polley as director and writer, she does a great job adapting this story and uses the visual language of film very well to help tell that story, much has been made of the colour grading for this film but it really worked for me for the most part especially on a nice sized cinema screen and it also highlights just how secluded and isolated this religious community is.

Also the film has some great performances, McDormand and Ben Whishaw are good (Whishaw is very good here as the school teacher who takes the minutes of the meetings the women have) but this movie belongs to Mara, Foy and Buckley and I wish all three of them received Academy Award nominations for their work but I’m not surprised they were overlooked.

Each of these three ladies embody the different reactions these women have to the awful situation they find themselves in as well as what to do about it in terms of their options one embodies hope, another anger and another frustration and this movie like She Said from late last year is a tough watch at times as well as a sad one but it also has a hopeful tone to it in terms of the hope for a better tomorrow and your story being different from the one these three ladies each experience.

And so that was Women Talking and it is highly recommended from me, a great achievement anchored by great writing/directing and performances, 4 out of 5.