At times, Sarah Polley’s Women Talking feels like an adaptation of a stage play more than it does a novel. As the title suggests, much of the film centers on a group of women having long conversations, often in just one room. The story, lifted from Miriam Toews’ 2018 novel of the same name, follows a group of self-elected female leaders in an isolated Mennonite community in 2010. As the men in their village continually inflict physical and emotional damage onto the women while maintaining their power through their religious views, women young and old come together to decide their collective fate. Are they to forgive, flee, or fight?
Much of the film takes place over the course of a single night as a roundtable of women with often opposing views converse and argue over what is best for them and their children. The village’s more conservative matriarch (Frances McDormand, in a limited onscreen role while doubling as producer) storms out of the meeting early on when forgiving the men is all but removed from the table. That leaves Ona (Rooney Mara) and Mariche (Jessie Buckley), two consistently abused wives; Salome (Claire Foy), the hot head of the group ready for war; Agata (Judith Ivey) and Greta (Sheila McCarthy), two more progressive matriarchs; a host of younger voices forced to come of age through their oppression; and August (Ben Whishaw), a trusted male teacher tasked with writing down the minutes of the council.
The plot’s restrained, dialogue-heavy structure seemingly pushed Polley to make a variety of stylistic decisions that both bolster and detract from the film. In shots outside of the women’s council room (the second floor of a barn), she achieves a sense of grandiosity that nicely lends to the scope of the story. Women Talking may be a chamber drama, but in dealing with religion and revolution, there is enough scale and scope for us to appreciate the importance of what’s happening in this isolated village.
And yet, Luc Montpellier’s grayed out cinematography follows Hollywood’s current worst aesthetic trend. The lack of contrast and color does the film no visual favors, likening its look to a host of more mediocre awards season outings Polley disappointingly seems to be trying to fit in with.
The ever-shifting dynamics of the room is what keeps Women Talking engaging even when it doesn’t always earn its cinematic existence. It’s Buckley, McCarthy, and Foy who end up making the most of their screentime in this overall strong ensemble, digging deepest into their characters to reflect both strong points of view and deep-rooted, unfixable pain.
Polley’s script, however, often teeters between being genuinely interesting or just a bit overwrought. At its best, Women Talking plays with the philosophy of feeling as these women grapple with their faith. What is the goal of their potential religious revolution? How might their actions interfere with their relationship to God? Through these questions, the film turns complex emotions into simple answers that give the women agency to actually decide what must be done. It’s just that sometimes the dialogue stretches beyond the believability of casual conversation, as if characters are trying to plainly reiterate the story’s arc for the audience.
These moments aren’t consistent throughout the film, but there are enough of them that the finished product isn’t as effective as it feels like it could have been. Still, the story’s themes of community, strength, and how to give genuine love are resonant enough to break through these problems and save the film from its weaker qualities. There’s a lot at play in Women Talking, but it strikes the right balance often enough that its powerful narrative remains inspiring.
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