TIFF22 Review: ‘Women Talking’ Is a Distressing Film That Feels Relevant to Our Current Political Climate

Women Talking

Sarah Polley (director and writer), Luc Montpellier (cinematography), Christopher Donaldson, Rosyln Kalloo (editors)
Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, Judith Ivey, Ben Whishaw, Frances McDormand, Sheila McCarthy, Michelle McLeod (cast)

Content warning: Sexual assault, child abuse, domestic violence, religious rhetoric

Image credit: Courtesy of TIFF

“I used to miss the person I could have been.” This is said by an unseen narrator in the first few minutes of Women Talking, the disturbing and distressing Sarah Polley film that made its international premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival. Adapted from the Miriam Toews novel, the majority of the film takes place within the confines of a hayloft, where a group of women comes together to deliberate on a matter that will affect all the women in their community.

The central characters all belong to this colony, a religious commune where women are left with no power. After years of nightly assaults, gaslighting, and silencing, one of the attackers is caught and this sets off a chain of events that allows the women to come together and debate their future. There is much anger, resentment, and fear—of the past and the unknown future. The women themselves cannot agree with one another about how they feel about what’s happened to them, nor about what they should do next. There are no shocking revelations, but there is a bond forged among these women.

Women Talking is a tough watch. There are no gratuitous scenes of what happened to these women, instead, the audience is confronted with the aftermath of the violence—the realization, the pain, the damage. It’s incredibly disturbing, especially the moments when Polley cuts away from the hayloft to flashbacks of the women’s reactions. You feel the horror of what these women faced, and the injustice of them having no recourse for reparations—until now. Because this film is written and directed by a woman, Polley brings a sensitivity that a male director may not have. Not all men and all that, but let’s be honest, most male directors have too many blindspots about gender-based violence to handle the topic well.

The film feels painfully relevant especially in America today, where the rights of women and non-cisgendered men, are being stripped away. The setting of the colony is the kind of place American politicians and right-wingers appear to want, and parts of America don’t just look like the colony, they’re becoming the colony. It’s so frightening and angering.

I understand this film is called Women Talking, but I guess I didn’t realize it was going to be a film about women only talking! I don’t think that would necessarily be an issue, but what are they saying? Within the context of the colony and the story of the film, the characters’ thinking is progressive but how does that fit into the context of today? I think some of the cyclical arguments are needless and especially redundant in today’s world. What was done to these women was outrageously cruel, but there’s an argument where the women seem to try and absolve the men of their sins and equate them with the victims of the assaults. The men may be victims of their learnings but they committed the violence. They are not the same as their victims. Far too much time and energy is spent absolving these invisible, vile men of their crimes, but why? Again, within the context of the story and the limited religious understanding of the characters, it makes sense, but is that the message less enlightened viewers will take away? Or will they just blame something else, like their religion, for their crimes? I mean, isn’t that what’s already happening?

Because the film relies heavily on the discourse among the women, the dialogue and debate have to carry this film and its message. Unfortunately, since it’s an adaptation of a book into a 100-minute film, the nuances are lost. As an adaptation, Women Talking doesn’t accomplish its task—it feels disjointed and all over the place. There was way too much emphasis on the romantic subplot, which is sweet but takes time away from concluding the debates.

Every moment of tension is undermined by forced laughter. While moments of levity are required, it should be natural—the audience should be laughing of their own accord, not being told to do so. Every time the women seemed to be making some headway in their arguments with one another, something interrupts them and they start singing or chanting. While these moments demonstrate how these women are bonding and bonded together, the entire suspense of the scene would unravel. I would rather they had found closure with as many arguments as they could, but instead, we’re lambasted with some religious diatribe that honestly, in today’s global society, isn’t even relevant to swathes of movie-goers.

I was also completely confused about who was related to whom. At one point a character thinks something terrible is happening to them, but only one person reacts, the character’s other daughter doesn’t. This happened throughout the film—the sense of outrage and protectiveness one would feel toward a loved one is different from that of an acquaintance, but you can’t gauge the familial or social dynamics of the characters at all.

Yes, the message of the film is powerful and impactful, but the writing isn’t strong enough to carry it. And the film lacks pacing. There was no sense of tension, rhythm, or timing, just plot points, and monologues.

Speaking of monologues, Claire Foy does a great job, as did Jessie Buckley. They’re both very different characters, but hold their own as a firebrand and the resigned one. Ben Whishaw is good except in the third act when his constant crying got tedious. The rest of the supporting cast was fantastic, but what was Frances McDormand doing here? She has two and a half scenes and one line of dialogue. She’s a producer on Women Talking, so I assume she just wanted to be part of the production, but she’s wasted in this role.

Rooney Mara is the central character here, but she does the same thing repeatedly and has no expression. She always looks doe-like, and throughout the film, she comes across as sanctimonious and condescending. There’s a disconnect between her character and the gravity of the situation that also doesn’t help immerse you in the story.

The shocking part of the film is that the men assault women and girls of all ages, and have been doing so for a long time. I like that the women in Women Talking aren’t carbon copies of each other. The victims aren’t uniform, but I do wish there had been a little more body diversity among the main cast. Also, kudos for them including a trans character, albeit for a brief moment. That’s some progress in Hollywood.

This was a frustrating film to watch. It’s such a difficult, traumatic subject but because it’s written and directed by a woman, we do not have to witness the horrors as much as the aftermath of it. But what is the film saying to today’s audiences aside from shock, horror, and disgust and the realization that communities like this still exist and men in the world still think like this?