A review of the important new film “Women Talking”
I really enjoyed the 2012 film “Take This Waltz” written and directed by the Canadian Sarah Polley, but we’ve had to wait a decade for her next fiction film “Women Talking”. This is based on a fiction work which in turn was inspired by real events. The fiction work was the best-selling 2018 novel by Miriam Toews and the real events were the systematic drugging and raping of women of all ages in a Mennonite colony in eastern Bolivia which came to light in 2009.The film could easily have been a play (and I suspect will become one) since it has all the characteristics of traditional theatre: an ensemble performance of dramatic speaking roles in one setting with any action alluded to rather than actually depicted. Over a period of just 24 hours, eight women of different ages – all victims of abuse – gather in a barn to debate whether they should stay or go.
Each woman has strong lines but, in a stellar cast, the outstanding actors are Rooney Mara, Jessie Buckley, Claire Foy and Frances McDormand (who has a smaller role but a producer credit). There is only one speaking role for a man (when did you last see that in a film?): Ben Whishaw as the community’s teacher and the group’s scribe. The colours are so muted that often it looks like a black and white film, but writer and director Polley ensures that the range of viewpoints are far from black and white. Hard questions are posed to provoke serious thought.
The film – like the novel – is represented as “an act of female imagination”.
One can only imagine that, in a community of some 2,000, these women would be given the time and space to hold such a debate. One can only imagine that women denied all but minimal education and subject to a lifetime of submissive obedience could suddenly have the confidence and eloquence to make these sophisticated arguments. One can only imagine that so many women and children could be organised to break-out from such a controlled and repressive community with no idea of where they are going.
But, in this fictional sense, Polley – like Toews before her – is empowering women who had no power and giving a voice to women who were not heard. Whether fiction or fact, whether then or now, this is an immensely relevant and timely contribution to the long-needed #Metoo movement.