3 Women (1977)
Average Rating: 7.9/10
Reviews Counted: 23
Fresh: 22 | Rotten: 1
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 7.1/10
Critic Reviews: 5
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 1
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 4/5
User Ratings: 6,216
My Rating
Movie Info
Robert Altman's Three Women takes a surreal, improvisational and rather eerie look at the lives of three women in a western desert town. The plot centers around the youngest of the women, Pinky (Sissy Spacek), an eccentric, withdrawn woman trying to begin a new life. She finds work as an attendant at a hot springs spa catering to the elderly and infirm. There she befriends her co-worker Millie (Shelley Duvall), an equally strange but more outgoing woman; the two bond, and are soon sharing an
Apr 3, 1977 Wide
Apr 20, 2004
20th Century Fox
Watch It Now
Cast
-
Shelley Duvall
Millie, Millie Lammorea... -
Sissy Spacek
Pinky, Pinky Rose -
Janice Rule
Willie -
Robert Fortier
Edgar -
Ruth Nelson
Mrs. Rose -
John Cromwell
Mr. Rose -
Sierra Pecheur
Bunweill -
Craig Richard Nelson
Mr. Maas -
Maisie Hoy
Doris -
Beverly Ross
Deirdre -
John Davey
Dr. Norton -
Leslie Ann Hudson
Polly -
Patricia Ann Hudson
Peggy -
Belita Moreno
Alcira
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All Critics (25) | Top Critics (7) | Fresh (25) | Rotten (1) | DVD (16)
Like a dream, it is most mysterious and allusive when it appears to be most precise and direct, when its images are of the recognizable world unretouched (as happens in the film from time to time) by camera filters or lab technicians.
Top CriticI have seen it many times, been through it twice in shot-by-shot analysis, and yet it always seems to be happening as I watch it. Recurring dreams are like that.
A spectacular artistic success.
A gauzy, perfectly executed vacation in Doppelgänger-burg.
Robert Altman's would-be American art film (1977) is murky, snide, and sloppy.
Insinuates itself into your skull, and earwig-like proceeds to consume all you thought you knew of ontological security
3 Women is definitely a slow burn of a movie, but it's also amazing how well it taps into and visualizes the subconscious. Nothing is spelled out by Altman, who wants the audience to interpret the film's meaning for themselves.
If you've ever wanted to take the plunge into the deep end of Robert Altman's brainpan, Criterion's impeccable Blu-ray transfer presents the ideal jumping-off point.
Absorbing until it crashes in a tiresome manner trying to be too inexplicably symbolic.
The first half...is some of Altman's best stuff. The second half downgrades into rather pretentious and dithering malarkey
Either a maddening essay in pointlessness, or a deeply involving work that leaves the viewer unnerved and off-balance. Which response occurs depends entirely on the viewer.
An incisive portrait of psychological alienation.
Fascinating, elliptical and enigmantic ... authentic Altman. Altman.
[A] strange, beautiful and funny film.
Drawing similarities to the central relationship in Persona, Altman's impressionist work is difficult but, in its own way, sort of perfect.
[Altman] pushed even harder against the envelope and in the process created a highly unusual and wholly original picture.
Apparently, Robert "Hot Lips" Altman was ready to be reborn as Maya Deren. Eric Henderson (C) slant magazine, 2004.
Audience Reviews for 3 Women
I became aware of "3 Women" in my 20s. When I was about 25 and in graduate school, I rented it. (Probably on videotape!) I remember thinking that it was one of the weirdest films I had ever seen. Not weird in an engaging way -- weird in an off-putting way. None of it made any sense to me. I would have given it a 2 or 3 rating.
But I never forgot the film. Something about it stayed with me. Many times I felt the desire to try watching it again. Would it make more sense to me now? Would the older me see it in a new way? Would I ever figure out what Robert Altman was trying to do with it? Something kept drawing me back. It was a code I wanted to crack.
After about five years on my Netflix queue, it finally came to the top. Twenty years later, I finally got my chance to view this enigma again. I'm happy to report that it was worth the wait. The older me did see it differently. I don't think it's a great film, but I certainly understand and appreciate what Altman was trying to do. Even with its flaws, which are considerable, I now feel that "3 Women" deserves its status as a classic of the American avant-garde. Not all the avant-garde classics are European! (But most are.)
More details on plot later....
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June 23, 2008:
Kim Newman on... HexRT Obscura, the exclusive column by renowned critic Kim Newman, sees the writer plumbing the depths...
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Foreign Titles
- 3 Women (1977) (DE)
- 3 Women (1977) (UK)
Personality changes behind her red smile
Every new problem brings a stranger inside
Heplessly forcing one more new disguise.'