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Women Talking Movie Review

Women Talking is a 2022 drama film directed by Sarah Polley and starring Claire Foy, Rooney Mara and Jessie Buckley. It is not a particularly effective parable.

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“Hope for the unknown is good.

It is better than hatred of the familiar“

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The women of an isolated religious colony reveal a shocking secret about the colony’s men. For years, the men have occasionally drugged the women and then raped them. The truth comes out and the women must decide whether to fight or flee. This is a feminist drama that is obviously limited in its appeal as women would find this type of story much more relatable than male viewers, but that is not my main issue with the story. You can always elevate the material with strong execution, but that didn’t happen here.

The biggest problem of Women Talking is that these are women living in an isolated Mennonite colony, which is a Christian domination with thousands of followers in different countries with the US having one of their biggest communities. It was important to depict one of these communities, but how they went about it rang false.

These women live with basically no modern technology and they all lack proper education. Watching their lifestyle and how they dress, you would think that this is a period piece, which did make for a disturbing watch. But the issue here is that they talk as if they are at a liberal college. Their speeches were so dignified and so sophisticated that it made absolutely no sense in the context of this story. You may say that it’s a parable, but it even failed to make an impact in that area, thus it was left inhabiting this odd limbo between a realistic drama and a parable.

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Of the performers, Claire Foy definitely delivered the best work and she got the most to do. Jessie Buckley was also terrific and Rooney Mara is as great as she always is. Others are all quite good, though their roles were minor in comparison. Of the male characters, Ben Wishaw shined the most as the male feminist and supporter of these women. The acting here is excellent across the board, but the characterization was barely serviceable unfortunately.

Women Talking is a somewhat confined drama that would have fared greatly as a stage play, but it functions as a film also given Sarah Polley’s solid directing and technical aspects that are actually stronger than expected. The cinematography is particularly intriguing as this strange mixture between color and black-and-white. The desaturated aesthetic made the movie feel different and unique. The soundtrack is also great.

But at the end of the day, this is supposed to be a dialogue-driven drama and the dialogue was an utter failure, which is why the movie ended up being ineffective in its messaging. The characters basically spout activist lines that were ill-fitting in this context. It was hopelessly modern and professional. The pacing is also rather slow, thus failing to engage viewers and make them emotionally connected to the story or the characters.

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