Trigger warning: mention of sexual abuse
This week, out of the 8 films available to watch every day at Broadway Cinema, only 2 of them are directed by women. For the 2023 Oscars, not a single female director was nominated for best director despite box office hits such as Where the Crawdads Sing and The Woman King both having female directors behind them. Although there has been significant progress in recent years to acknowledge the contributions of women to film, it is still absolutely crucial to spotlight the achievements being made by women every day in the film industry.
Women Talking is a drama film based on a 2018 book of the same name, adapted for the screen and directed by Sarah Polley. Polley is a Canadian filmmaker, actor, and activist, who is probably most widely recognised for playing Ana in Zack Snyder’s 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead. Her creative and political careers have coalesced throughout her life, beginning at the age of twelve when she wore a peace sign to protest the Gulf War and became engaged in a row with Disney, who she was employed by at the time. Her most recent creative achievement, Women Talking, is a further example of Polley’s fearlessness to portray her own thoughts and feelings about the world through her films.
The book, and thus the film as well, is based on true events which occurred in an isolated Mennonite community in Bolivia, in which men in the community would sedate and rape the women on a regular basis, and the women were forced to choose whether to forgive the men and stay, or not forgive the men and be exiled from their community. The film focuses on the two days the women are given alone to decide how they wish to spend their futures.
Not a single line of dialogue is wasted in this stripped-back, simple discussion about the role of women in this isolated and deeply religious society. The film mostly takes place in a hayloft over the short time span of two days, using a minimal cast of only nine main characters. Washed-out, dark tones create an eery and unwelcoming atmosphere, in which the sun shining has an immense impact and highlights the light moments in the darkness. This bareness truly exposes and calls attention to the extreme and poignant back and forth between this group of desperate women trying to understand how to manage their faith in the face of their abuse. In spite of this questioning of faith, Polley manages to maintain a delicate balance in that there is never any discussion or questions raised about having faith in general. In fact, a huge amount of importance rests on the fact that these women believe in God and trust in their own faith in their God.
The cherry on top of such a visually and emotionally impactful film is the fact that all the performances from the cast are stunning. The actors range from well-established women at the top of their game (such as Jesse Buckley, Frances McDormand and Rooney Mara) to women whose breakout performance was this film (Kate Hallett and Liv McNeil). Despite the range of acting abilities and experience among the cast, all the women shone in their own ways, provoking emotional responses from audience members and instilling the feelings of unease and terror felt by the characters in the story.
All round, this film from Sarah Polley is an absolute success. She is proving again and again that women deserve a place in film and deserve to be recognised as equally as capable as men, not only in acting roles but in directing and producing. Women Talking is on at Broadway Cinema until February 23rd, giving you plenty of time to catch this unmissable drama!