8 Women
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Movie Reviews of 8 Women
Movie Review: Hot House Roses
Summary: 5 Stars
"8 Femmes" is a deftly directed, vulnerable as a rose in a windstorm, touching as a sunrise, homage to women directed by Francois Ozon.The film is populated with the who's-who of France's film world: Darrieux, Deneuve, Ardant, Beart, Huppert. As a contrast it would be as if Spielberg directed a film with: Roberts, Pfeiffer, Stone, Taylor, Sarandon. Thus, "8 Femmes" is eye-poppingly studded with Stars and therein lays a lot of its charm and success.
So what of the film itself? Well, it's an over-the-top who-done-it very much in the mold of George Cukor's "The Women." But whereas Cukor "opens-up" Claire Booth Luce's stage play to make it more like a film and not a filmed version of a play, Ozon does not.
In fact, Ozon closes "8F" with the entire cast standing in line and taking a bow as if it were a stage play; thereby reinforcing, rather than moving away from the artifice of a stage play.
At the films opening, Gaby (Deneuve) is confronted with the murder of her husband seemingly by one of the other 7 women ,as the house is snowbound: no one can come in or out. In reality this sounds an awful lot like an Agatha Christie Mystery like "10 Little Indians" rather than a Douglas Sirk melodrama like "Imitation of Life," which some have suggested. What strikes me as similar to a Sirk movie, is Ozon's attitude towards his women characters: their situations are absurd and silly but they themselves are not. And it is this humanist view of women that suffuses this film with Ozon's obvious love and admiration of women.
Much is revealed on a personal and social ,through dialogue circa 1950's France, level by all the characters which is the nature and style of a play: the characters say a lot but "do" little. And all manner of women from the maid through the maitresse of the house is equally represented...a 2002 ,not a 1950's take on things.
Francois Ozon's "8 Femmes" is a valentine of a movie dedicated to the various-ness, the ambiguity, the power of women. That it was made in France does not diminish its impact nor Universal appeal to everyone.
Movie Review: full of references
Summary: 5 Stars
I am not going to say anything about the DVD itself since I own the French one, and not this one.
I would just like to comment on a few things said by the previous writers.
This movie can be watched in a couple of ways.
First, there is indeed a murder plot. And you can spend the whole movie trying to find out who the culprit is. You have eight women that might have murdered Marcel, but only one has done it.
This is the first level, and, to me, not the most interesting one.
Secondly, there are a lot of references to the Cinema, with a capital C. For instance, François Ozon says (in the bonus) that Isabelle Huppert's hair color (when she goes down the stairs) refers to Rita Hayworth's hair color. And he referred also to a lot of American movies (like Cukor's Women for ex.), and also to some French movies.
You can't watch this movie without thinking of Truffaut, for instance. When Gaby -Deneuve- says to Suzon -Ledoyen-: "te voir près de moi est une joie et une souffrance" -seeing you near me is a joy and a pain-) is a clear reference to him (for those of you, who wonder why, you gotta watch the Mississipi Mermaid, and the Last Metro).
And, at last, I would not say that this movie is lesbian or anything like that. Clearly, this movie has a sexual side. And François Ozon likes playing with homosexuality in his movies (he himself is openly gay). All the characters have a perversion, and all the characters have a problem with sex: there's a virgin, a spinster, a lesbianism, a bisexual, and two girls that are hetero but who might be attracted to women. It is definitely not a sexual movie, even though sex is underlying.
So, all in all, this is a movie I really liked but it is a bit weird. Either you love it, or you hate it.
Movie Review: For those who love French songs of the '60s
Summary: 5 Stars
Actually, apart from Catherine Deneuve who is famous worldwide, the other actresses of this French movie are not quite unfamiliar to the American audience either. I believe most moviegoers must have recognized Emmanuelle Beart (the sexy girl of "Mission Impossible"), Isabelle Huppert (the frustrating woman of "The Piano Teacher"), Virginie Ledoyen (Francoise of "The Beach"), Fanny Ardant (Mary de Guise of "Elizabeth"), and Ludivine Sagnier (the bombshell of the recently released "Swimming Pool"). As for Danielle Darrieux, strange as it may seem, she once starred as the mother of Catherine Deneuve (and of Catherine's real life sister Francoise Dorleac) in another French musical, "Les demoiselles de Rochefort" -- although that one was not as good as Catherine's debut "Les parapluies de Cherbourg".While watching a movie with all the above mentioned actresses was quite a treat already, I particularly enjoyed them lipsync some beautiful French songs of the '60s: "Pape t'es plus dans le coup" (Daddy you're behind the times, performed by Ludivine Sagnier), "Message personnel" (Personal message, by Isabelle Huppert), "A quoi sert de vivre libre" (What's the use of living free, by Fanny Ardant), "Pour ne pas vivre seul" (To be not alone, by Firmine Richard), "Mon amour mon ami" (My lover my friend, by Virginie Ledoyen), "Pile ou face" (I toss a coin, by Emmanuelle Beart), "Toi jamais" (You never, by Catherine Deneuve), and as if the best was to saved for last, "Il n'y a pas d'amour heureux" (There is no happy love, from a poem by Louis Aragon and performed by Danielle Darrieux).
Movie Review: C'est Tres Fun!
Summary: 5 Stars
What a delight this movie is! Saw it last week on a whim at the local theater. A spoof of the whodunit movie, "8 Women" features eight of France's greatest actresses all trapped together in a luxurious mansion, where even the corpse is locked away. Who has knocked off poor Marcel upstairs? Cherchez la femme! So along the way, all sorts of shocking confessions are made, but never any of murder, that is, until...!
A great treat is that the action is set in the 1950s, with glorious technicolor-type photography and fetching haute couture costumes for all concerned. When I was recommending this to my brother, all I seemed to keep repeating was, "What a beautiful woman Catherine Deneuve is!" I don't know how old she is now, I suppose in her 50s somewhere, but my golly, she's breath-taking still, especially as she's coiffed and wardrobed here.
And even if this great photography and costuming weren't enough, it's a musical! I was at first dumbfounded when the first number broke out, with Deneuve joining her two daughters in a wacky song and dance number. "What does this mean?", I asked my popcorn. Well, it's no "Sound of Music", but you get used to all the star turns, as every diva gets her number. There WAS one that I thought was genuinely good, the song the humiliated maid (you gotta see it to find out how that happened) sings, "So As Not To Be Alone", a lament about what people will do to avoid loneliness. I thought the poetry touching and apt for that one.
If you're game for absurdism in the guise of Lush Life 1950s movies, then "8 Women"'s got your number!
Movie Review: So much fun!
Summary: 5 Stars
I love Francois Ozon. His films are twisted, thought provoking and full of sometimes overt, sometimes covert (homo)sexual tension (see Swimming Pool or Criminal Lovers). So when I heard about 8 Women I thought Ozon would miss the mark with this one. Thankfully he didn't. Although this is by far the tamest of Ozon's films, his directorial skills and ability to tell a thoughtfully compelling story that is never uninteresting and keeps you on the edge of your seat is just as evident in this film as in his others. Ozon isn't a stranger to musical numbers in his films (remember the sexy dance number used as the theatrical trailer to Water Drops on Burning Rocks?) so I wasn't surprised at the first infectious pop musical number. When the second musical number made its appearance I was a bit surprised until I realized it was a vehicle for each character to reveal her personal pathos. I then looked forward to each new musical number that appeared. The plot is your typical Agatha Christie whodunit fare where everyone is lying to hide their secret, where no amount of backstabbing and name-calling is enough. What really makes this a great film is the attention to detail and the beautiful, beautiful women. The film has that gorgeous 50s Technicolor look, the costumes are impeccable 50s French couture and the women are so gorgeous you're hard pressed to pick which one is the most beautiful. This a film that is meant purely for entertainment and boy is it ever entertaining. How can you not like it?