Women Talking                 4 stars

The title of Sarah Polley’s new movie Women Talking is indeed very descriptive of the events that transpire on screen. There are both plenty of women and talking. We are introduced to the women of a religious community where something horrific has occurred that must be dealt with. At first it is hard to tell when and where the movie takes place as the furnishings and the wardrobe are fairly primitive. It could be in the early 1900’s but the events eventually reveal that the year is 2010. Periodically, a woman of the community wakes up with bruises or an infection or is pregnant resulting from being raped while being drugged. The elders of the community (all men naturally) attribute this to “an act of wild female imagination”, but the women are not fooled. The movie consists almost entirely of a debate among the women held in a barn to decide what action they should take. They can stay and fight for their rights against the men or they can collectively leave the community and start over somewhere else. The women are brilliantly portrayed by actors Claire Foy, Rooney Mara, Michelle McLeod, Sheila McCarthy, Judith Ivey and Jessie Buckley, among others. Each has their own way of expressing their feelings ranging from relative to calm to outrage. The violent acts are never portrayed on screen and we only capture brief glimpses of the men. There are peaceful scenes that take place in the fields with the children that remind us that there are more lives at stake here. The only man with a film role is August (Ben Whishaw), a teacher who was educated at a university and is present to take the minutes of the meeting because none of the women can read and write. Also, August is secretly in love with one of the women. The movie, written and directed by Polley is based on a book of the same name by Miriam Toews, itself based on actual events that occurred in Bolivia. The actor turned writer/director has been away from filmmaking for many years, but has created some memorable works including Stories We Tell, Take This Waltz and Away from Her. This present work is a subdued and effective way of dealing with a culture of violence against women that is all too prevalent worldwide.