8 WOMEN
(a film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: Several different genres of film get kidded in this French country house murder-thriller. One man has been murdered and eight women review their relationship to him in this drama-comedy-musical-mystery. Rating: 7 (0 to 10), low +2 (-4 to +4)
Most of the fun of 8 WOMEN is that it is cliche. We have a country home, lavish but snowbound. In it are eight woman and one dead man, a knife in his back. One of the women has to be the killer. But can the women figure out which one is the killer? Is it the victim's mother, his wife, his sister, one of his daughters, or one of the servants?
The snow has isolated them in the house, and the phone cord has been cut so there are no police to do the detective work. Maybe if the eight women can talk out the murder and the events leading up to it they can figure out who the killer is. This one house, a huge Gothic mansion, seems to have a lot of secrets, private hatreds, and skeletons in every closet. But every few minutes the investigation is interrupted as someone sings a song. It seems this film does not just laugh at the conventions of murder mysteries. It also pokes fun at that most surreal of film genres, the musical. Also its use of bright, super-saturated colors is a reminder of the MGM musicals of the 1950s. Satirizing the musical and doing a good job is not an easy task. One rather suspects that the jabs at the musical were writer and director Ozon's own idea and he knows how to do it. Even when Woody Allen tried to lampoon the musical in his EVERYONE SAYS I LOVE YOU it came out crudely done and leaden. Ozon's gives us about eight different songs, each in a different style, and manages to keep his satire subtle and light.
The screenplay was adapted by the director, Francois Ozon, based on a play by Robert Thomas. It toys with the audience, pulling the rug out from under the viewer and changing the plot every few minutes so that nearly everybody comes under suspicion. And what an "everybody" it is. The film is packed with popular French actresses including Catherine Deneuve, Isabelle Huppert, Emmanuelle Beart, Fanny Ardant, Danielle Darrieux, and Virginie Ledoyan. I give 8 WOMEN a 7 on the 0 to 10 scale and a low +2 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net
Copyright 2002 Mark R. Leeper
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