Product: 8 Women (2002)
Rating: 3.0
Heavy-weight talents in a light-weight film
8 WOMEN cheerfully mixes the murder mystery, comedy, and musical genres into one film, and features energetic performances from a talented cast. But it is silly, fluffy, and stagy beyond words. Set entirely in a country house during two days in winter, its story follows the familiar Agatha Christie-whodunnit formula and is strictly by the book. The musical numbers are primitively put together, with the amateurish quality of their singing and choreography matching the overall frivolity. The dialogs are at times risque (the movie has an R rating), with the women often reveling in exposing one another's infidelities and sexual inadequacies. Some slapstick is thrown in as well, but nothing memorable. Every aspect of this film is unimpressive except the actors, who work really hard to wring every bit of life out of this inferior farce. This is not the best whodunit you'll ever see. Not the best comedy nor musical you'll ever see. Not the best film you'll ever see by any of the actresses.Seeing Catherine Deneuve in a musical reminds one of the great 1964 musical UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG. Seeing Fanny Ardant in a whodunit brings to mind her work in the sparkling 1983 mystery CONFIDENTIALLY YOURS, directed by the great Franois Truffaut. Emmanuelle Béart is best remembered for her dramatic turns in such films as UN COEUR EN HIVER and MANON OF THE SPRINGS. And director Franois Ozon worked with Ludivine Sagnier again in a much better film called SWIMMING POOL. See those films instead of this one.