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Movie Review: 'Women Talking' is Among the Best of 2022

Powerful, emotional, raw and thought-provoking, Women Talking is a Must-See film.

By Sean PatrickPublished about a year ago 6 min read
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Women Talking (2022)

Directed by Sarah Polley

Written by Sarah Polley

Starring Jessie Buckley, Claire Foy, Frances McDormand, Rooney Mara, Ben Whishaw

Release Date December 23rd, 2022

Published December 22nd, 2022

Women Talking is directed by Sarah Polley with a script Polley adapted from a book by Marion Toews. The story is set inside a cloistered Mennonite community in 2010. After having endured sexual and physical abuse from the men in their colony for years, the newest assault has the women of the community questioning what to do to stop this from happening again. 8 women are assigned the task of determining what must be done, either staying and fighting the men or leaving and never returning, risking what they've been raised to believe would be God's wrath, eternal damnation.

Regardless of the risks involved, a decision must be made and over the course of Women Talking we hear the reasoning behind what must be done, staying and fighting or leaving the colony. Each option comes with its own peril. Fighting the men is going to be violent and result in grave harm or perhaps death. Leaving, on the other hand, risks losing a hoped for place in the kingdom of heaven plus the fact that the women have no idea where they will go if they leave.

That last bit is critical but you have to think about it for yourself. A less talked about aspect of abuse is economic or circumstantial abuse. This is abuse that occurs when one partner renders another partner helpless via their circumstances, physical, financial, et cetera. Essentially, because these women are cut off from the outside world, cut off from resources, they are left with no choice but to rely on their male partners. Leaving is a possibility but it comes with a grave uncertainty as to where to go and what will happen next.

Add to that fact that these are women with small children or elderly women who've spent their whole lives in this community and it dawns on you just how massive this decision that these women are making truly is. The competing emotions of anger, resentment, fear, uncertainty, the desire to be free of abuse as well as years of indoctrinated servitude all boil together in this story, informing the heated exchanges among these 8 women. These women are doing far more than just talking, they are facing a monolithic challenge.

Among the eight women chosen to make this impossible decision are Ona (Rooney Mara), a rape survivor who became pregnant from her assault. Salome (Claire Foy), also a recent sexual assault survivor, who is eager to stay and fight. And Mariche, a mother of several children who has suffered repeated abuse from her husband. Mariche wants to stay and cope with the problems though her coping seems to involve changing absolutely nothing about their circumstances.

The older women in the group include Agata (Judith Ivey), Greta (Sheila McCarthy), and Scarface Janz (Frances McDormand). These women have experienced this abuse their entire lives. Agata and Greta's strength is a comfort to the younger women while Scarface is less so. Scarface will not discuss leaving and just as soon as she is part of the conversation on what to do, she leaves and forbids her two daughters from taking part in any conversation about leaving.

The structure of Women Talking is what the movie describes as an act of female imagination. That can be interpreted in several different and powerful ways. On the one hand, the story is speculative as to how these women in this disconnected community came to the decision they came to. Author Marion Toews envisioned how these women came to the decision to leave and crafted a fictional story based on the few facts available regarding these real life Mennonite women in a community in Canada.

The Story in the movie is told in a voiceover flashback by the daughter of one of the younger of our central characters as if she were telling the story to the baby born to Rooney Mara's Ona. In that way, it's a slightly embellished and imagined version of the real story, not unlike how original author, Marion Toews, culled the story together from loose interpretations of the original true story.

A different, angrier, and more personal interpretation of the phrase, "An act of female imagination," emerges if you really consider what we are told by these women. In an early part of the meeting we learn that the men, and especially the religious leaders of the colony, have for years told these women that the assaults they've suffered had come at the hands of 'demons.' In fact, the women were being drugged and assaulted and then told that their memories of the assault were the memory of a nightmare. When the women pointed to the evidence of their assault, that's when the notion of demons is mentioned. Thus, the 'act of female imagination' is an act of angry, righteous sarcasm, a rebuke to those who would claim this story is made up.

Women Talking is an act of protest, a call to action, and a shock to the system. Sarah Polley tells an incredibly relevant story set inside a place that provides a microcosm of the kind of misogyny, gas-lighting, and violence that women in any society often deal with though perhaps not in such an obvious and consistently horrific fashion. The women of this Mennonite community are a microcosm of a larger societal problem, and Sarah Polley brilliantly uses their story to shine a light on the insidious ways abuse can take hold and the challenges of overcoming it.

Women Talking is a must see movie. The filmmaking is exceptional and the storytelling is lively and invigorating. Subtext bubbles under throughout and breaks through only as you step away and begin to consider how remarkably brave these women are to escape this circumstance into an unknown future. That this is based on a true story adds a level of awe to the proceedings that I am honestly still working through as I write this. Then there is that insanely brilliant cast, of whom I am in complete awe.

I want to indulge a little and talk about one choice and one performance in particular. Frances McDormand plays a woman who is referred to in the cast list as 'Scarface Janz.' Her name is never spoken during the movie, I assume no one actually calls her scarface. But that Scar is important. It tells a story all in itself. McDormand is perhaps the biggest name in the cast and she doesn't have a large role to play. Her performance lies almost entirely in what she doesn't say. That massive scar on her cheek speaks volumes as she says nothing at all. You know where that scar comes from without her telling you and you understand her fearful motivation without her having to deliver a monologue about it. It's remarkably understated and absolutely devastating in its simplicity.

Find my archive of more than 20 years and nearly 2000 movie reviews at SeanattheMovies.blogspot.com. Find my modern review archive of more than 1200 reviews on my Vocal Profile, linked here. Follow me on Twitter at PodcastSean. Follow the archive blog on Twitter at SeanattheMovies. Listen to me talk about movies on the Everyone's a Critic Movie Review Podcast. If you have enjoyed what you have read please consider subscribing to my work here on Vocal. If you would like to support my writing you can do so by making a monthly pledge or by leaving a one-time tip. Thanks!

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About the Creator

Sean Patrick

Hello, my name is Sean Patrick He/Him, and I am a film critic and podcast host for the I Hate Critics Movie Review Podcast I am a voting member of the Critics Choice Association, the group behind the annual Critics Choice Awards.

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