Skip to main content

The Women (2008)

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

The Women. Feature film. (2008, 114 mins) IMDB

...a film with no male actors...

I

remember watching the original 1939 film on which this film is based. Two points obvious points. First the witty batter, lots of great lines, but second, the film had only women in it. I haven't watched a movie before or since where that's true. (If I did, I don't remember). So, knowing that, and knowing this film was a remake, the question I had at the beginning was: are there any men in this movie?

The answer is no and as a result, the story is limited as a result. Odd and awkward at times. It's not a sex issue, it's a storytelling issue. A movie with only woman can work, just not this one.

The story line is simple. It's NYC. There are four middle-aged women who are friends. The lead character is Mary (Meg Ryan). She seems to have a perfect life. Nice house, servants, husband, daughter, activities to keep her busy. Then the bomb shell. Her husband is seeing some other woman played by Eve Mendez. The film spends the rest of its time dealing with how Mary will respond to it.

How she and her friends and mother and daughter respond to it are predictable: Ignore it. Get divorced. Start a new life. Reconciliation. There's nothing fresh or interesting about the situation.

In a way, this film is like a version of Sex and the City without Mr. Big and any of the men.

Yes, there are some funny lines. There would have to be since it's a comedy, but the lines just hang out there. They come across as a stand up comic routine.

But here's the main problem with the film. Because there are no men on screen, things happen on the phone or somewhere else. Meg tells her husband she wants a divorce. They argue etc. It all happens off screen and we hear a recap by the two live-in servants. That zaps the scene of any drama and it's done repeatedly. We don't want to hear about what happened, we want to witness it. Eavesdrop.

The best sequence happened at the end when Edie goes into the labour. It's the type of scene that has been done in film and TV many times, but there's something about the angst of a women in labour that is funny. It's played as a slapstick routine and it works. There was a ghost of Charlie Chaplin.

Posted 2009/03/18 at 01h53ET in Movie Commentary.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

If Only We Could Agree

Monday, June 11, 2012 ... have you been accused of misspelling a word you know is correct ... S usanne O’Leary wrote an interesting article on her experience with the variations of the English language in different countries. You know the obvious ones like colour with or without a “u” but less obvious ones like travelled versus traveled. Growing up in Sweden she learnt English in school—the UK variation. In publishing her books, she read reviews where she was criticized for improper spelling. False accusations as it turns out. While I write tire and cozy, it’s not incorrect to write tyre or cosy. Same language. Both accepted. Just different. You can read her write-up here along with the numerous comments posted by readers. I found it interesting, but that’s me. As a Canadian I deal with this issue everyday. I feel her pain when she’s criticized for something based on ignorance. No fun. I was told by a boss that “data are” isn’t correct. It should be “data is.” Read...
2 comments
Read more

Day 109: Writing a Novel—The Deep Blue Hold

Sunday, March 6, 2017 Note: Unedited writings from my notebook for this novel. Square bracket items represent added comments. At 18:47 Office ... I barely remembered anything about this story ... H as it really been three months? I guess it has. I put it out of my mind [so much so] that I barely remembered anything about this story. Not even the title. [Unreal!!!!!!] I had the general premise and an ending—enough I thought for a novel. What I lacked was a determination and desire to want to write it. Why bother… I wasn’t enjoying the process and I had no reason to believe the result wouldn’t be anything more than what’s gone before—nothing. James Piper Kitchener, Ontario Post comments on facebook page. Follow me on twitter. Posted 2017/04/14 at 14h02ET in The Deep Blue Cage | Writing A Novel
Post a Comment
Read more

Words: BONE—GONE—LOAN—BOAN

Friday, March 31, 2017 You’d think BONE would rhyme with GONE but no. This is the English language after all. But BONE does rhyme with LOAN so we’ll spell it BOAN. It will take some time to update all the existing writings but it can be done. Meanwhile, if you smash up your car, the insurance company will allow you to get a LOANER and if you happen to meet the right person you may get a BOANER. boan Post comments on facebook page Posted 2017/03/31 at 17h28ET in Words .
Post a Comment
Read more