M, 104 minutes
3 Stars
Review by © Jane Freebury
First impressions are telling. So, it probably irritates actors terribly that the personas in roles that announced them to the world are difficult to throw off.
Think Rooney Mara and we remember her dragon tattoo in that Nordic thriller. Think Claire Foy and we recall the iconic image of her head slightly bowed under a crown in the TV series about the British royal family. But the indelible impression the actresses made as strong women in these parts does no harm here. In this new drama, Mara and Foy each deliver striking performances.
Canadian writer-director Sarah Polley, who demonstrated with a study of dementia, Away from Her, that she doesn’t shy away from difficult subjects, was in the director’s chair. Her latest film, based on real, recent events in Bolivia, is about women in a remote religious community who realise that they have been the victims of systematic abuse. The men of ‘the colony’ have for years been using cattle tranquiliser spray to facilitate sexual assault.
It is astonishing but true. Women Talking will resonate with the new contemporary awareness of domestic violence in our societies, and of the horrible position of subjugated women in some of the world’s most notorious theocratic states.
Not only are the women of ‘the colony’ victims of abuse, their religious convictions deny them the right to speak up and resist.
What an unspeakable dilemma. Rape or eternal damnation.
The women determine that they have three options. Do nothing, stay and fight, or leave.
Women Talking is an ensemble piece. Jessie Buckley as Mariche, an angry mother grieving assault on her four-year-old daughter, is raw and haunting. She wants direct action. Greta and Agata, veteran actresses Sheila McCarthy and Judith Ivey in the roles of senior women, try to contend with the dilemma, exploring angles for a more compromised response. There are a bunch of excellent performances here, and the festivals that have delivered performance awards to the film as an ensemble work have got it right.
The big names attached to Polley’s film seems to indicate something about people’s willingness to lend support to the campaign against domestic violence in this era of #MeToo. Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand, who has a small role, are among the producers. And it is fascinating that the voiceover at beginning and at the conclusion address the next generation of women directly, so it won’t happen to them too. ‘Your story will be different.’
Ben Whishaw, Rooney Mara and Claire Foy in Women Talking. Image courtesy Universal Pictures
Women Talking is certainly handsomely made, with desaturated images that verge on black-and-white from cinematographer Luc Montpellier. It’s a fine aesthetic that lends the tale a timelessness and a placelessness that verges on the universal. An eerie atmospheric score from Icelandic composer Hildur Gudnadottir contributes to this.
Other elements, however, are less successful. This is an earnest and beautifully written film, but dramatic energy is lacking.
It’s like a courtroom drama with the accused entirely absent from proceedings
According to the plot, the men have left ‘the colony’ for a couple of days, heading into town to put up bail for one of the accused. Thus, the women have the place to themselves and retreat to a hayloft to debate their future. If the device works in the book, it doesn’t work so well here.
The female characters are articulate, but entirely illiterate. Given the nuance of some of their arguments, like the distinction between leaving and fleeing, this strikes me as rather odd. They appoint a token man, August (Ben Whishaw) the teacher, to be their scribe as they develop a list of pros and cons of action or inaction.
On another level, there is the presence of Whishaw as the token male. His timid, romantic feelings for Ona (Mara), a victim of a recent rape who has become pregnant, convey barely a frisson of positive earthy masculinity into the debate. At the last minute, there are some descriptions of the good attributes of males but it seems entirely retro-fitted, while the males have been outside the frame.
The screenplay was co-written by Polley and the author of the book of the same name, Miriam Toews, who at the age of 18 fled a Mennonite community in her native Canada. This bold and powerful story had everything going for it, but just doesn’t quite reach its anticipated high mark.
First published in the Canberra Times on 18Februar7 2023. Jane’s reviews are also published at Rotten Tomatoes