3 Women

Critics Consensus

3 Women is a strange, eerie portrait of late-'70s womanhood that upends and then defies all expectations.

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 The plot centers around the youngest of the women, Pinky (Sissy Spacek), an eccentric, withdrawn woman trying to begin a new life.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 apartment. Pinky becomes increasingly dependent on Millie, eventually adopting aspects of her personality and appearance. This obsessive attachment is threatened when Pinky discovers Millie with a man -- Edgar (Robert Fortier), the macho, faux-cowboy husband of local artist Willie (Janice Rule), the last of the title's three women. Pinky's subsequent, desperate actions precipitate the film's enigmatic conclusion, involving an unexpected series of confrontations and role reversals amongst the three women. This story tends to take a backseat to the elliptical, spooky imagery, particularly the desert landscapes, and the quirky performances -- not surprising, given that the film was reportedly shot without a full screenplay and inspired by Altman's own dreams. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi

Rating:

PG
Genre:

Classics, Drama
Directed By:

Robert Altman
Written By:

Robert Altman
In Theaters:

Apr 3, 1977 wide
On Disc/Streaming:

Apr 20, 2004
Runtime:

124 minutes
Studio:

20th Century Fox

Watch it now

Cast

Shelley Duvall
as Millie Lammoreaux

Sissy Spacek
as Pinky Rose

Janice Rule
as Willie Hart

Robert Fortier
as Edgar Hart

Ruth Nelson
as Mrs. Rose

John Cromwell
as Mr. Rose

Sierra Pecheur
as Mr. Bunweill

Craig Richard Nelson
as Dr. Maas

Maysie Hoy
as Doris

Belita Moreno
as Alcira

Leslie Ann Hudson
as Polly

Patricia Ann Hudson
as Peggy

Beverly Ross
as Deidre

John Davey
as Dr. Norton

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Critic Reviews for 3 Women

All Critics (28) | Top Critics (7) | DVD (4)

The result is remarkable -- a semi-lucid, feverish tale of female relationships that disintegrates into a kind of woozy, oppressive madness.

Jul 16, 2015 | Rating: 5/5

Wendy Ide
Times (UK)
Top Critic
Throughout, Duvall is brilliant: she coins a brand-new caricature of the confident yet clueless single female, then suggests a real person underneath.

Dec 15, 2014 | Full Review…

Michael Sragow
New Yorker
Top Critic
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.

May 9, 2005 | Rating: 4/5

Vincent Canby
New York Times
Top Critic
I 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.

Mar 5, 2005 | Rating: 4/4 | Full Review…

Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic
A spectacular artistic success.

Jun 4, 2004

Douglas Pratt
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic
A gauzy, perfectly executed vacation in Doppelgänger-burg.

Jun 25, 2002

Michael Atkinson
Village Voice
Top Critic
One of Altman's most atmospheric films.

Dec 27, 2018 | Full Review…

Michael E. Grost
Classic Film and Television
Altman's signature telephoto framing, omnipresent murals depicting demon-like creatures, and an atonal score add a creeping menace to uncanny California desert settings.

Jul 28, 2015 | Rating: 5/5 | Full Review…

Michelle Devereaux
The Skinny
The film is rich in brilliant oddities and juxtapositions, never more so than when Duvall and Spacek are encompassed in the same frame.

Dec 9, 2014 | Full Review…

Melissa Anderson
Artforum
Insinuates itself into your skull, and earwig-like proceeds to consume all you thought you knew of ontological security

May 20, 2013 | Rating: 78/100 | Full Review…

Dan Jardine
Cinemania
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.

Oct 27, 2011 | Rating: 3.5/4 | Full Review…

Eric Melin
Scene-Stealers.com
Absorbing until it crashes in a tiresome manner trying to be too inexplicably symbolic.

Jan 16, 2011 | Rating: B | Full Review…

Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

View All Critic Reviews (28)

Audience Reviews for 3 Women

Apr 26, 2015

3 Women is wonderfully strange. Inspired by a dream, it flows like one with Sissy Spacek plays a once in a lifetime role.

John B Super Reviewer
Feb 03, 2014

Wide-eyed Pinky (Sissy Spacek) latches onto delusional Millie (Shelly Duval) until an accident causes a radical personality shift. Fascinating, subtly unnerving psychological mystery that provides a bridge between PERSONA (1966) and LOST HIGHWAY (1997).

Greg S Super Reviewer
Nov 24, 2012

'She tries not to shatter, kaleidoscope style Personality changes behind her red smile Every new problem brings a stranger inside Heplessly forcing one more new disguise.'

Stefanie C Super Reviewer
Sep 11, 2012

"3 Women" has got to be the strangest contemporary film I've ever seen. It's hypnotic and surreal, dream-like and offbeat, plotless and unsettling. The length is frustrating at times when nothing seems to be happening, but it eventually plays out. Shelley Duvall and Sissy Spacek are both magnetic in their roles, each delivering nuanced, finely-tuned performances, but it's Robert Altman's direction that really fascinated me. Each scene is so handsomely executed and each shot is so perfectly framed that I cared less and less about the fact that there was nothing really going on.

Stephen E Super Reviewer