Product: 8 Women (2002)
Rating: 4.0
8 Women, where the murder is almost irrelevant, the songs are great and the women...ah, the women
8 Women is a lightweight, stylish and funny murder mystery. But forget the murder. The movie really is a terrific excuse to have several of France's greatest actresses strut their stuff. We might as well get the plot out of the way quickly. There's a snowed-in country home, elegant looking and filled with elegant women. A man is found dead and one of the women in the house killed him. Who and why?In addition to the male corpse, there's the corpse's wife, his mother-in-law, his two daughters, his sister, his sister-in-law, the chambermaid and the housekeeper. In order, they are Catherine Deneuve, Danielle Darrieux, Virginie Ledoyan and Ludivine Sagnier, Fanny Ardant, Isabelle Huppert, Emmanuelle Beart and Firmine Richard. And as they tell us their stories, while the corpse stays chilled in an upstairs bedroom, they each sing French pop songs. It's all odd, funny and endearing. If they all look much like a selection of French bon bons, that's because the movie itself looks like a colorful candy box.Isabelle Huppert is one of my favorite actresses in any language, and it was good to see her play an amusing part for a change. I'm not sure how many other actresses of her caliber can glare and make it funny. Danielle Darrieux at 85 is a wonder. The sight of Fannie Ardant and Catherine Deneuve rolling around on the floor in a semi-Sapphic tussle was gripping. And those who want to have their illusions about tomboys shattered, just watch Sagnier as the youngest daughter here and then as the under-clothed bombshell she played the following year in Swimming Pool.Who is the killer? You won't find out from me, although that's scarcely the point of the movie. As Darrieux tells us in song, "There is no happy love." Still, murder can be a pleasure when it involves these eight actresses.8 Women is an easy movie to watch more than once. The DVD picture and audio are first-rate.