Women Talking (2022)

Jack and I liked this powerful ensemble piece about women in a remote religious colony who must decide what to do about their repeated sexual abuse by the men of the colony. Rooney Mara, Jessie Buckley, Claire Foy, Judith Ivey, Sheila McCarthy, Michelle McLeod, Frances McDormand, and the teens Kate Hallett and Liv McNeil are all exceptional in the drama, as well as Ben Whishaw, the only man whose face we see.

Director/screenwriter Sarah Polley adapted the 2018 novel by Miriam Toews, who was raised a Mennonite in Manitoba, Canada. Toews based her book on actual events from 2005-9 at the Manitoba Colony, a remote Mennonite community in Bolivia. I had no idea it was supposed to be contemporary until one scene about halfway through when the women briefly have visitors from the outside world. Soon after the movie begins, these words are on the screen: "What follows is an act of female imagination." I won't be the last to compare it to the jury drama 12 Angry Men.

Hildur Guðnadóttir's urgent score can be streamed on Apple Music and probably elsewhere.

Mara was last blogged for Nightmare Alley, Buckley for The Lost Daughter, Foy for First Man, Whishaw for The Personal History of David Copperfield, Polley for Take This Waltz, and Guðnadóttir for Tár

Two-time Tony winner Ivey has 76 screen credits and McCarthy has 148. McLeod, with eleven, looks a bit familiar to me, too, but I can't say why. This is the screen debut for Hallett and McNeil.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are not silent, averaging 90 and 86%, respectively.

A couple of years ago I joined the Independent Feature Project, specifically so that I could stream their Spirit Awards nominees. This is nominated for Best Feature, Best Director, and Best Screenplay, as well as winning the Robert Altman Award which goes to an ensemble cast, director, and casting director. It has quite a few other nominations and wins already and will no doubt make an appearance at the Oscars on March 12. 

Anyway, we were able to stream it on January 6, before its theatrical release, because of my IFP membership. Track your local art house's listings to see this on a big screen.