Women Talking

Director: Sarah Polley

12 March 2023

See 

He: Women Talking, new film by Sarah Polley. Telling the story of Mennonite women taking control of their destinies after reaching breaking point after years of abuse under the men in their colony.

Her:  Women talking by Sarah Polley, a story of women living in an unidentified religious colony, somewhere in the world where all of the women got tranquillised and raped over an extensive period of time, even girls. When 4 year old girl falls a victim and one of the offenders get caught, women of the colony decide to collectively discuss  what action they’re going to take: 

stay, forgive and pretend nothing happened

Stay and fight

Or Leave.

Him: Women Talking directed by Sarah Polley is a post #metoo movie showing a mennonite community, agrarian, cut off from the rest of society and the women of that community who are brutualised by the men, and told by their elders to forgive their trespasses. They meet to discuss whether to do nothing, fight, or leave.

Think 

He: It’s very much a story in miniature seeking to speak of a greater issue. That of the abuse of women and specifically by men. A refreshing take on the revenge genre almost where as the title simply puts forward is women talking. But it’s not just that, it’s them taking the space separate from men to talk through, process and decide as a collective what needs to be done in order to live their lives away from fear.

Her: There were no unnecessary characters in this film. And I’m glad that August was there, otherwise this could have been a one-sided man-hater kind of story.  I don’t really have a lot to say here as feelings overtake my thoughts in this case. 

Hope there are some award nominations coming for it. 

Him: The cast is impeccable, Rooney Mara is gracious and reasonable, Frances McDormand hard and unmoving, Jessie Buckley fierce and Claire Foy ferocious. Yet it is the older women and young children(particularly the precocious girl) that give the film its gravitas. Reigning in the other actors and the decision they face. Grounding the philosophical dilemma of Talk, with reality of do. Director Sarah Polley herself was an actress. 

Feel

He: How desperately relevant it all is, very much today in all facets of society. But what struck me most that it is a men’s issue, men need to hold themselves accountable for the continuous violence against women and in general those who do not hold or a part of the dominant power structures today. But with the setting of it in the microcosm of the Mennonite community we are able to view it as representative of the greater human experiment. Women everywhere have the same desires and basic human entitlements to safety, living their lives without fear, ensuring the safety of their children. But even though anger is very much a part of the film, Polley and it’s possibly in the source material also but that the issue is not black and white, especially when it come to intimate acts of violence.

Her: I’m overwhelmed and moved by this story. In fact, I didn’t think I’d be able to share my feelings with you now. And I don’t quite understand what exactly moved me so much. It’s hard to not fall in love with Rooney Mara’s character, though I sometimes question whether she was too smart and educated given the rules of the colony she lives in. But my favourites were probably two little inseparable girls. Despite the fact that they were only kids and wanted to play, in the crucial moment of decision making they always had something to say - meaning they did care.

Him: Ben Whishaw as the only man present, the community teacher is tasked with recording the minutes of the meetings. He himself was the son of a woman banished for questioning the power structures of the colony.

He’s also a sympathetic voice of reason, that not all men are monsters, and boys can be taught not to become those kinds of men. I’m glad the women acted on their disquiet by refusing to continue being a part of that world where forgiveness was equated with permission. The flashes of their trauma, and scenes of a simple life made the complexity of the topic manageable. Nobody is forcing them to stay, but leaving and trying to make their own community, of different values from the ground up is terrifying.