OSCARS 2023: Women Talking (2022)

The #MeToo movement had a direct effect on the American film industry. It forced an entire system that just took sexual abuse as an unfortunate but tolerated, maybe even accepted, part of the woodwork for decades to confront the lives destroyed by that tolerance. To be honest, Hollywood is still trying to figure out how to grapple with its dirtiest open secret being exposed. (While the revealing of predators and pervs goes on to this day.) A direct attempt to fictionalize the campaign largely went unnoticed by critics and audiences. “Women Talking” is not directly about #MeToo but it’s impossible not to think of Sarah Polley’s film as informed by the movement. This one broke through more, earning two Oscars nominations, including a coveted Best Picture nod.

“Women Talking” is based off a novel by Miriam Toews. That book was inspired by the “ghost rape” cases of Bolivia, where women in an isolated Mennonite community were drugged with animal tranquilizers by the men around them and then brutally assaulted. Before the perpetrators were caught in the act, the women were told the rapes didn’t happen or were performed by demons. “Women Talking” begins with the attackers about to return to the village from prison, the women of the community being told they must forgive their rapists. Instead, they gather in the barn loft and put it to a vote. They will either do nothing, stay and fight, or leave. They debate about what to do, while one of the few remaining men in the village takes the minutes. 

“Women Talking” is rather stage play-like in its construction. The majority of the film takes place in one location, the hayloft, and the most of the runtime is taken up by the many characters discussing and debating. (Which makes the title a rather literal description of what happens.) Also like many a piece of theater, “Women Talking” is clearly not just about its story. The Mennonite community is essentially all of human culture in microcosm. The sexual assaults represent all abuse that women have suffered at the hands of men over the millennia. Each of the characters and their opinions stand for the various opinions women can have about this state of affairs. Some of the women, like Claire Foy’s Salome, demand violent retribution against their attackers. Frances McDormand, in a glorified cameo as a character only named “Scarface,” accepts the men’s decision. Most everyone else debates the how and why of these events, how it effects their faith and outlook on life, and where to progress from here.

When your story features characters who are less fully defined personalities than they are symbols for a certain point-of-view, it can be hard to warm up to a movie. It doesn’t help that the Mennonite fashion sees all of the women wearing identical, drab black dresses with similar haircuts, making it tricky to tell everyone apart sometimes. Polley’s film really gets into the ethics of how to respond to these very relevant, real life happenings – that men abuse and assault women – that effects millions of women all around the world. She even goes so far as to include a transman in the narrative, someone who transitioned after his assault and took a partial vow of silence. I don’t think Polley and her movie intends to speak for all women, all survivors of rape, but it certainly tries its hardest to cover as many of the bases as it can. This is not just a narrative but very much an attempt to figure out a response to the fact that men hurt and rape women with startlingly frequency. 

As a man, I think my thoughts on this topic are the last ones that matters. I genuinely do not feel smart enough to really discuss “Women Talking’s” importance or reflection on society. Yet the question couldn’t help but linger in my brain: What should be done? It’s not exactly a spoiler to stay that the women eventually decide leaving and starting anew elsewhere is the best option. Getting into the practical matters of this decision are compelling. What do they do with their children? Do their sons pose a threat to them? Will the boys carry on the sexist legacy started by their fathers? Do the women themselves, thoroughly indoctrinated by the sexist attitudes of their elders, hold some guilt for accepting the crimes as they were happening? It’s a really complicated dialogue, grappling with ideas like slut-shaming and internalized misogyny. Not to mention matters of faith raised by the religious background of these women. 

For whatever my opinion is worth, I think Polley and her team tackle these ideas with as much tact and thoughtfulness as possible. We only ever see the aftermath of the assault, the bruises and knocked-out teeth being brutal enough on their own. Men are largely excluded from the story, with Ben Whishaw’s August being the sole adult man who is fully seen on-seen and named. Otherwise, the males are depicted as a series of identical overalls. Polley’s approach is somber, with a muted color palette and simple (if graceful) cinematography. Even the musical score is deliberately understated, the movie endeavoring in all aspects never to sensationalize or exploit real life assaults while clearly making its opinion known. 

Yet “Women Talking” is not suffocatingly dour all the way through. In fact, there are frequent moments of humor. The tension of the debates often defuse into laughing. One of the elderly members fearing she is dying after a spirited monologue, only to discover her glasses are just fogged up, is a highlight. There’s room for warmth and grace too. A memory about driving horses over a rough road is beautifully conveyed. August has romantic feelings for Ona, Rooney Mara’s character who is pregnant with her rapist’s child. August subplot plays out in a surprisingly touching manner, that manages to make it clear what men’s position should be in these matters without resorting to “Not All Men” style posturing. 

If it isn’t obvious, “Women Talking” is a difficult film for me to write about. I talk about trashy monster movies most of the time, not serious meditations on the most pressing social issues of our lives. I’m not equip for it. While it is tempting to just evaluate “Women Talking” on an aesthetic level – it’s well assembled in all ways, with an incredibly complicated script that is gamely performed by all involved – I do think Polley finds the humanity here as well. That makes this an important movie with some very pointed things to say. Kind of makes me wish people at-large actually gave a shit about the Oscars, because movies like this are designed to generate discussion. [7/10]