Weekend Watch: Women Talking
Sarah Polley returns with righteous fury
Image Credit: United Artists
Welcome to the latest edition of Weekend Watch, in which I recommend (or occasionally warn against) movies or TV shows I’ve been checking out. This week, religious women debate a colossal decision. Follow James on Twitter: @jamwhite
Sarah Polley has become a real force in filmmaking, even if her work doesn’t always get the respect it deserves. She’s back with her latest, Women Talking, which sees the writer/director working alongside novelist Miriam Toews to adapt Toews’ 2018 novel, itself written as a reaction to shocking true events that happened at the Manitoba Colony in Bolivia in 2011.
At the ultraconservative Mennonite community, girls and women woke up regularly to discover they had been sexually violated. The attacks were written off as “wild female imagination” or attributed to ghosts or the work of Satan.
In truth, a group of colony men had been spraying an animal anaesthetic into neighbouring houses at night, rendering everyone unconscious, and raping the women. The colony elders, deciding that the case was too difficult to handle themselves, called the authorities.
The movie’s story unfolds shortly after the men have been taken away, with several remaining men heading into town to post bail for their fellows. A group of the colony’s women gather secretly to discuss what to do in the wake of the revelations. Their reactions run the gamut from fearful to furious, and the debate covers all manner of subjects but is focused mainly on a vote as to whether they stay, fight or leave the community altogether.
None of the options is perfect; some argue that if they leave, their Mennonite religion (though the name is never mentioned) teaches that God won’t be able to find them and they’ll be denied their place in Heaven. Others are burning with the desire to exact revenge on the perpetrators. And some are concerned that leaving means the boys left behind will have no one to care for them and guide them into becoming more responsible men than some of those who have come before them.
Taking place primarily (but not completely) in one location, the film boasts a frankly fantastic cast giving life to Polley and Toews’ words –– Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, Judith Ivey and Frances McDormand among them. It sometimes has the feeling of a stage play, but more than with actual play adaptation The Whale, the sheer power of the performances here carries it far beyond the limited settings.
It feels wrong to single out certain people in a cast this good, but Foy and Buckley shine, while McDormand radiates quiet power (until it explodes), proving why she has won so many awards in recent years.
This is not a film that will appeal to everyone, but it’s one that I’d recommend to almost anyone who cares about well-written dramas that might not otherwise get the attention they deserve. It is, by its very nature, a painful and difficult film to watch––for women who will identify with the dilemmas, and for men who should gain further insight into the high wire that women everywhere must walk on a daily basis when confronted with terrible behaviour towards them.
Women Talking deserves your support.
Women Talking is on general release in the US and will be out in the UK on 10 February.