Product: 8 Women (2002)
Rating: 4.0
Mayhem, and eight women....
It is the late 1950's. You see a beautiful country house, and a lot of snow. Inside, there is a man and seven women. The man is Marcel (Dominique Lamure), the owner of the house, who is sleeping in his bedroom. The women are his wife Gaby (Catherine Deneuve), his daughters Catherine (Ludivine Sagnier) and Suzon (Virginie Ledoyen), his eccentric mother-in-law (Danielle Darrieux), his somewhat neurotic sister-in-law Augustine (Isabelle Huppert), his housekeeper Chanel (Firmine Richard) and Louise (Emmanuelle Béart), a remarkably attractive maid. Seven women, and one man, who unfortunately turns up dead some minutes after the film begins. Should I clarify that he has been assassinated?.A late addition to that ensemble is Pierrete (Fanny Ardent), Marcel's estranged sister, who drops in uninvited at the house just when mayhem has erupted after the discovery of Marcel's dead body. Voilà: now you have the eight women of the title :)These are very different women who don't like each other a lot, and that is a recipe for trouble in my book. However, there is another factor that I haven't mentioned so far, and that makes things quite more interesting: one of them murdered Marcel during the night. Eight women, unable to leave the house due to a snowstorm, and a task: weeding out a murderer. Finding the culprit will be a difficult task, because all these women lie, for one reason or the other..."8 women" immerses the spectator in a classic murder mistery, spiced by eight songs that fit perfectly into the script, and that allow us to understand better the motivations of the characters. Director Franois Ozon managed to make an original and visually stunning film, that manages to surprise and please despite a not overly good ending.On the whole, I think that you will like "8 women", unless you absolutely hate films with songs as part of the script. I'm certainly not a fan of musicals, but I really liked this movie.Belen Alcat