Product: 8 Women (2002)
Rating: 5.0
C'est Tres Fun!
What a delight this movie is! Saw it last week on a whim at the local theater.A spoof of the whodunit movie, "8 Women" features eight of France's greatest actresses all trapped together in a luxurious mansion, where even the corpse is locked away. Who has knocked off poor Marcel upstairs? Cherchez la femme! So along the way, all sorts of shocking confessions are made, but never any of murder, that is, until...!A great treat is that the action is set in the 1950s, with glorious technicolor-type photography and fetching haute couture costumes for all concerned. When I was recommending this to my brother, all I seemed to keep repeating was, "What a beautiful woman Catherine Deneuve is!" I don't know how old she is now, I suppose in her 50s somewhere, but my golly, she's breath-taking still, especially as she's coiffed and wardrobed here.And even if this great photography and costuming weren't enough, it's a musical! I was at first dumbfounded when the first number broke out, with Deneuve joining her two daughters in a wacky song and dance number. "What does this mean?", I asked my popcorn. Well, it's no "Sound of Music", but you get used to all the star turns, as every diva gets her number. There WAS one that I thought was genuinely good, the song the humiliated maid (you gotta see it to find out how that happened) sings, "So As Not To Be Alone", a lament about what people will do to avoid loneliness. I thought the poetry touching and apt for that one.If you're game for absurdism in the guise of Lush Life 1950s movies, then "8 Women"'s got your number!