Women Talking

Women Talking, the latest feature by Canadian filmmaker and former actress Sarah Polley, has secured two big nominations at the Academy Awards: Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay. Taken from Miriam Toews’ 2018 novel, the story is set within an isolated religious community at a time when the patriarchal system and faith itself are being questioned, following a series of crimes within the colony.

A woman wakes up in her bed with signs of having been assaulted whilst unconscious. It’s not an isolated event: all the women in the community, one by one, have been targeted by a group of men and subjected to this violence. When some of the perpetrators are discovered by eyewitnesses, the women gather to discuss their fate. They are faced with the options of forgiving, fighting or fleeing. 

The film is overall solid and effective, especially thanks to a cast that includes Claire Foy, Rooney Mara, Jessie Buckley, Ben Whishaw, as well as Frances McDormand, who appears in a cameo role (she is also a producer of the film). The story, however, doesn’t really come to life, as each character ends up becoming a mouthpiece for a specific viewpoint. Another setback is that the crimes happen before the events of the film, and the consequences of their final verdict unfold after what is shown on screen, so the feature itself consists of a single debate that isn’t always gripping and is sometimes repetitive.

Women Talking feels particularly inauthentic when it leans too heavily into its objective of handling hot topics, as opposed to focusing on building up rich drama. The whole premise of the narrative feels like a direct response to the Me Too movement that saw women denounce abuse en masse in 2017. Although the message gets across clearly, it, unfortunately, feels too didactic. Some of the women are traumatised, others are ready to fight, another reminds the group that “not all men” are culpable: at times it’s as if a social media exchange is being acted out. 

A small aside sees one of the group begin dressing like a man, seemingly to avoid being a target of further attacks. The real reason, it transpires, is that this character doesn’t identify as a woman. This subplot sits oddly alongside the main debate and seems to have been added just to include another hot topic in the gender discussion rather than to enrich the plot.

While commendable in its intentions and engaging in some respects, Women Talking sadly lacks soul and ultimately feels detached.

Mersa Auda

Women Talking is released nationwide on 10^th February 2023.

Watch the trailer for Women Talking here: