Conversations With Other Women

2006

Conversations With Other Women

Critics Consensus

Its occasional use of split screen may feel gimmicky at times, but Conversations With Other Women is a bold, inventive drama carried by its two charismatic leads.

74%

TOMATOMETER

Total Count: 62

76%

Audience Score

User Ratings: 12,001
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Movie Info

An encounter between two people with a shared past and conflicting futures is played out on a split-image screen in this offbeat drama. An unnamed man (Aaron Eckhart) and woman (Helena Bonham Carter) are enjoying drinks and cigarettes in a hotel room after attending a wedding reception. At first, the two seem to be playing a flirtatious game, as he cheerfully but confidently advances toward her, and she seems at once attracted and put off by his bravado. Their pas de deux is shot and edited in split screen, with his image appearing in one half of the divided frame and hers appearing in the other. As time wears on, the man and woman begin crossing their appointed boundaries, and in some sequences one half of the frame represents the present while the other shows us events in the past. We learn that the man and woman had a tempestuous affair when they were in their late teens, and both are now committed to other people -- she has a husband, while he has a steady girl. How will the experiences of their past affect their present, and are they willing to betray their lovers for an evening's pleasure? Conversations With Other Women was the first feature film from director Hans Canosa.

Cast

Aaron Eckhart
as Man
Helena Bonham Carter
as Woman
Brian Geraghty
as Groom
Brianna Brown
as Bride
Olivia Wilde
as Bridesmaid
Thomas Lennon
as Videographer
Erik Eidem
as Young Man
Yury Tsykun
as Bartender at Wedding
Nora Zehetner
as Young Woman
David Franklin
as Bartender at Bar
Cerina Vincent
as Sarah the Dancer
Philip Littell
as Jeffrey the Cardiologist
Will Carter
as Wedding DJ
Bryan Geraghty
Madison Davenport
as British Girl
Hadley Dion
as Gwen
Emily Fernandez
as Girl on Street
Michelle Giannoulis
as Bridesmaid
Jennifer Herzog
as Girl on Street
Kendra Liedle
as Girl on Street
Veronica Reyes
as Girl on Street
Rozanne Sher
as The Other Woman
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News & Interviews for Conversations With Other Women

Critical Consensus: A Brave New "World," A "Step" Down, And No Screenings for "Pulse" and "Zoom"
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Critic Reviews for Conversations With Other Women

All Critics (62) | Top Critics (24) | Fresh (46) | Rotten (16)

  • I was hooked to the screen, to the film's sense of time and place and risk, to the intelligence of the talk and the intimations of pleasure and regret in Bonham Carter's performance.

    Jun 17, 2013 | Full Review…

    David Thomson

    The New Republic
    Top Critic

  • The film ultimately becomes too contrived to be anything but a fleeting diversion, but kudos to these emerging filmmakers for daring to make something a little bit different and, for the most part, intriguing.

    Sep 15, 2006 | Full Review…

    Ann Hornaday

    Washington Post
    Top Critic

  • The charm of Conversations With Other Women, a gimmicky but oddly moving two-character drama that flies in from who knows where, is its intelligent knowingness.

    Sep 15, 2006 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

    Ty Burr

    Boston Globe
    Top Critic

  • The observations about love and sex and time and memory are uncommonly sharp and true.

    Sep 1, 2006 | Rating: 3.5/4 | Full Review…

    Jim Emerson

    RogerEbert.com
    Top Critic

  • Eckhart delivers a complicated performance, veering from aggressive to abashed, and stopping at puppy-eager, jealous, and conflicted along the way.

    Aug 31, 2006 | Rating: B

    Tasha Robinson

    AV Club
    Top Critic

  • Eckhart delivers a complicated performance, veering from aggressive to abashed, and stopping at puppy-eager, jealous, and conflicted along the way

    Aug 31, 2006 | Rating: B | Full Review…

    Amelie Gillette

    AV Club
    Top Critic
View All Critic Reviews (62)

Audience Reviews for Conversations With Other Women

  • Sep 28, 2015
    Conversations with Other Women is a film for people who enjoy conversation and experimentation. It is very much an ambiguous and paradoxical film: is this improvisational honesty? Is it alternate reality? The split screen feels like it is a natural element and yet remains a fascinating device throughout. Recommended to fans of errant romance.
    Robert B Super Reviewer
  • Nov 07, 2013
    In the hands of Carter and Eckhart, this story about an affair is lush and full of the mixed chemistry associated with two people who are drawn to each other and repulsed due to emotional baggage. Fantastic work.
    John B Super Reviewer
  • Aug 14, 2013
    HBC and Aaron Eckhart meet at a wedding, and we get the impression that it's not the first time. Their characters' history is hinted at in split-screen flashbacks with doe-eyed Nora Zehetner as the former, whose resemblance to early-aughts HBC is really quite inspired, but her accent could use a little work. We know these ex-lovers are gonna fuck tonight, but the cat-and-mouse foreplay is still subtly suspenseful, with underhanded barbs and guarded tellings of their separate pasts. The script IS basic with no notable or quotable aphorisms, but I like that. The characters aren't trying to impress each other. HBC and Eckhart are so easy together that it's clear to see how the act of having sex doesn't really matter and how cheating on their SOs essentially isn't meant to be a hurtful or sinful thing, but a matter of course for the soul-connected. I didn't love or hate the split-screen technique. At first I found it difficult to watch because I couldn't tell where the angles and POVs were, but I got over it and enjoyed the few moments where the screens showed the future and the characters' different reactions. The end when the screens match up confuses me though. Do they end up together? Should they?
    Alice S Super Reviewer
  • Oct 03, 2011
    There are always two sides to every story...
    Andreia C Super Reviewer
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