Michael Gibson
Women Talking, the latest film from Canadian director Sarah Polley, is a challenging story about a group of women debating how they should respond to devastating circumstances. For years, the women of a remote Mennonite community have been drugged and raped. When the women voiced their concerns that something horrifying was going on while they were slept, they were told merely that the devil was punishing them, or that it was simply in their heads. When one of the women awakes to discover her attacker in the middle of the night, the women discover that the men of the community are behind these atrocities.
As a community, the women decide that they have three options. They can do nothing, stay and fight, or leave the only home they’ve ever known. When no clear conclusion is reached, the women from two of the community’s most prominent families meet in secret, to decide how they should move forward from these mortifying circumstances.
The result is an oft-stunning meditation on the power of resistance. It has an exquisite score from Hildur Gudnadóttir (who won an Oscar for Joker), oscillating between heartbreak and hopefulness. The characters are really where Women Talking shines, from (male) transcriber August (Ben Whishaw), to the debating women themselves. The ferociously determined Salome (Claire Foy), prickly Mariche (Jessie Buckley), and serene, thoughtful Greta (Sheila McCarthy, the film’s MVP) are particular standouts.