Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: WOMEN TALKING [Toronto International Film Festival 2022]
The idea of a colony built against time where the essence of gender subjugation blinds one side from its complete dominance of the other is a texture not just of a cult but of secret societies. In "Women Talking" [Special Presentation], writer/director Sarah Polley creates her version in a way of "Twelve Angry Men" with a dialogue among women trying to escape from a society cut off from the world they have lived in all their life. Adapted from the Mirian Toews novel of the same name set in a fictional Mennonite community gone wrong but it actually plays more as a futuristic narrative of sorts ala "Handmaid's Tale" at times. Now the beginning speaks of this story as the context of the female imagination but beyond metaphor it is a true connotation of psychology in abusive relationships. The women sit in a barn, the men that dominate them are never seen, only one stands among them, not quite a eunec but one that knows he is only there to document and yet he becomes the sounding board.
The women in this film are all powerhouses in their own right but the fire of an almost unrecognizable Claire Foy and an even more unrecognizable Jessie Buckley ratchet back and forth with pain in a fairly verbal way while the mothers and children wax in.But it is the older mothers (now grandmothers) who watch over their daughters who in turn watch over their own children that balances this out. The movie does something interesting in structure though in its starts and stops. Through voice over Polley creates a lyrical painting in the early dawn or the sauntering heat of the afternoon and the camera seems to float through these scenes. However when the women shift to their discussions the cutting becomes a little harder with little camera movement. The performances across the board are stunning and flow but the camera direction almost doesn't want to mess with it with in a way is an error but simply a choice (since the scenes have their own kenetic energy). It is an interesting decision but likely one based out of practicality when you have so many ladies working at the top of their game in a film where it is all about character and looks though the plot moves in one direction with a purpose.
The one that seems off in her world but it provides the bridge to all the emotion and what they are railing against is Rooney Mara's Oona which oddly enough seemed to be reminscent of Polley herself as an actress. Mara plays Oona with a lyrical wistfullness waxing poetic with a steely glance where Foy almost wants to attack her for being a dreamer where she wants to carry an axe. The irony that both these ladies played Salenger in "Dragon Tattoo" and "Hornet's Nest" respectively is not lost. This material is juicy and yet removed, the texture at times firerce afd strong while the thought dreamlike and uncertain. The older ladies bring the wit to decompress certain part of the dialogue but also field their regret in the society in which they helped encourage in forgiving transgression that they shouldn't have. The film is another interesting foray from Plan B who also did "12 Years A Slave" which also had baggage it needed to unload. Actually the person that one sees in the sideview mirror taking a census looks awfully familiar BTW. But even that sequence leading in with a certain music cue is undeniable and brings the film into the present without losing its almost classical Shakespearean tether. In that way "Women Talking" is both empathetic, aggressive, fragile and strong within the same breath. A-
By Tim Wassberg
