A gaggle of mothers, wives, daughters, maids, and mistresses gather for a holiday homecoming at their country mansion -- and end up having to solve a murder-mystery -- in this musical-comic homage to studio-era "women's pictures" from acclaimed French director François Ozon. Partly inspired by George Cukor's 1939 classic The Women, 8 Femmes stars Catherine Deneuve as Gaby, a high-society matron just returned to her country house to celebrate Christmas with her husband; mother Mamy (Danielle
Darrieux); sister Augustine (Isabelle Huppert); and daughters Suzon (Virginie Ledoyen) and Catharine (Ludivine Sagnier). Not long after they all arrive, however, do they find the man of the house with a knife in his back, whereupon everyone becomes a suspect -- including maids Chanel (Firmine Richard) and Louise (Emmanuelle Béart). The mysterious arrival of Augustine's sister-in-law Pierrette (Fanny Ardant) only complicates matters, as the titular eight women find themselves snowed in by a fierce blizzard, forced to confront the matter of the lifeless husband -- and their long-standing secrets and resentments -- without the aid of the police. Following its immensely successful release in France in early 2002, 8 Women enjoyed much acclaim at the Berlin and Toronto Film Festivals. ~ Michael Hastings, Rovi
An Agatha Christie drawing room mystery crossed with the '50s setting and melodrama of Douglas Sirk crossed with the musicality of Jacques Demy with some Aaron Spelling bitchery thrown in for good measure.
Klopt elementen van een Agatha Christie whodunnit, een frivole chansonmusical en de kleurrijke melodramas van Douglas Sirk op tot een luchtige souffle, als is de kooktijd wel wat lang.
Some may find Ozon's rigorously clever deconstruction of so many conventions a little too French for their tastes, but cineasts and worshippers of les femmes at their most fatales will find this farce wonderfully fierce.
In a film season dominated by male-oriented action flicks, 8 Women provides the feminine charm and sophistication to soothe the film-loving connoisseur in all of us.
The enfant terrible of French cinema, François Ozon's brave foray into the mind of not one, but eight, women is a gloriously-executed examination of what lies beneath the manicured façade of the female species.
How much viewers enjoy this depends on to what extent they're able to focus on the shining stars at the center while ignoring the narrative debris surrounding them.
Most of the ideas in 8 Women are similar to other things %u2013 and that's both the point and the delight of this strange confection, which can best be described as a highly theatrical musical-comedy version of Gosford Park.
A quirky murder mystery/who-done-it caper starring a femme fatale cast of French beauties to die for. The script is funny and engaging, the characters are over the top and exciting and the set, colours and little details are stylish and oozing with class. On top of all that, it's a musical!! That was a very pleasant
surprise, as was the entire film to be honest. Highly recommended!
I actually really enjoyed this movie. It was strange and they kept breaking out in song for no apparent reason. It was a movie I could recommend to that guy who always came into FYE and asked for movies that take place in one place (the movie takes place entirely in a house, almost in just one room). It's definitely
not a movie for everyone but if you like quirky foreign films, give it a chance.
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