chaos-rampant The French are dreamers, intellectuals, and oh so silly when they put their mind to it.This is good as far as the last two. The plot is that a man is found dead one morning in his plush bedroom and the 8 women in his life have to suss out the culprit among them. Very theatric, very Agatha Christie; the focus is not on visual exploration of emotional space but the space as defined by crisp, very crisp human presence competing for who can conceal best while teasing more. Whereas in a Wes Anderson film we'd have stylized nonexpression, here it's all about expressiveness. It is enjoyable to watch largely because it is so well cast. Each of the 8 women carves her space so well, besides the rotund maid and old crone who aren't given memorable roles. Deneuve is her usual icy, immaculate self, Ardant sultry and mysterious, Sagnier demure, Beart just lovely. My favorite by far is the wonderful Huppert as the neurotic spinster aunt; her movements and timing are a joy to watch, even moreso if you know her from previous films.That covers fun. The intellectual side to it is that we don't just have 8 women but different selves of the same soul shaped by some different caprice. This is seen in the mirrored pregnancy, mirrored murder and feelings of sexual escape, but best of all is the quadruply mirrored hairdo and how it's revealed.But the dreaming disappoints.Ostensibly this would be carried in the different songs, one for each woman. But only Huppert's shatters the walls of artifice and cartoony image to reach out to the long night of fragile, searching self.

Reichswasserleiche 8 (Huit) femmes reminded me of Clue very much and the quirkiness and oddness of Clue can be seen in this film as well. A stylized film with the clothes and furnished backgrounds, it is reminiscent of Kammerspielfilms because everything happens in one building. While I found this film to be cute, I really did not like it as a musical. I did like the musical numbers separately, but I felt like they didn't fit seamlessly into the film. When I least expected a song, someone was singing and it was so jarring that I was taken aback. The songs all reflected the character singing it, and out of all the songs, I found the song sung by Madame Chanel (Richard) to be the most poignant. Despite the film's cute exterior, I felt that the film had something to say about the role of women in various different situations.I was surprised to find out that Ozon wanted to remake Cukor's The Women but ended up making this film. I have no idea how successful Ozon's The Women would have been (the American remake flopped although I enjoyed it), but I thought that this film had many aspects that were similar to The Women.It was fun to see an older Catherine Deneuve and to hear her sing! I do believe that all of the actresses in the film sang their own songs and I would be highly disappointed if they didn't. I was upset to hear that Deneuve's singing voice was dubbed in Les parapluies de Cherbourg so when I watched this film, I thought, "Aha! Finally we get to hear Deneuve sing." I would put this film under the "dark comedy" section because of the mystery aspect and some of the things that happen throughout the film. If you like it the first time, I highly recommend that you watch it again; you'll find so many subtleties and foreshadows that all make sense when you know the ending. I recommend it to people who enjoy cute mysteries with a serious undertone beneath its light and cheery exterior.Film blog: http://sachlichkeit.net

marissas75 In the simply uncategorizable French movie "8 Women," successful businessman Marcel is found stabbed to death in his bed. Whodunit? Was it his wife (Catherine Deneuve) or his estranged sister (Fanny Ardant)? Or his mother-in-law (Danielle Darrieux) or his sister-in-law (Isabelle Huppert)? Or one of his daughters (Virginie Ledoyen, Ludivine Sagnier)? Or his longtime cook (Firmine Richard) or his new housemaid (Emmanuelle Béart)? The movie, however, is less concerned with the murderess's identity than with giving these 8 actresses the chance to show off, in a series of campy, funny, melodramatic scenes. To that effect, there are countless catty remarks and catfights. The revealing of progressively more outrageous family secrets. Lesbianism, twisted love triangles, chic couture wardrobes, transformations from ugly duckling to swan. And, last but not least, musical numbers. The action stops for each woman to dance and sing (usually in a breathy untrained voice) a pop song that reveals her character's emotional state. It's a bizarre mix, but you'll find yourself laughing through your incredulity.Faced with eight such talented actresses it feels rude to single out individual performers, but Huppert's portrayal of the embittered spinster Augustine steals the movie. Every one of her line readings is distinctive and hilarious, making this abrasive, histrionic character an absolute delight to watch. Almost as good is Ardant, playing a surprisingly likable free-spirited bad girl; because her character has no shame, she's at least honest when all the other women tell lies.The lesser-known Firmine Richard gets one of the best musical numbers with "Pour ne pas vivre seul" ("So as not to live alone"), and Sagnier, who was in her early twenties when she filmed the movie, very convincingly plays a bratty 16-year-old.All of the actresses' roles allow them to satirize their own or others' personas: Béart sends up the "seductive French maid" stereotype; Ledoyen is costumed to look like Audrey Hepburn but her character is no girlish innocent; Deneuve plays a variation on her customary chilly, glamorous bourgeois matron. Meanwhile, grande dame Darrieux cuts loose in the role of a meddling, lying grandma."8 Women" is thus more than just a comedy-mystery-musical: it's a witty postmodern comment on movie genres, movie stars, and three generations of French divas. It has a healthy sense of its own absurdity (indeed, how can anyone take this Agatha-Christie-type mystery seriously anymore?) yet all of the actresses are fully committed to telling this ridiculous story. Certainly one of the strangest films I've ever seen, it also--unlike so many serious and earnest modern movies--reminds me of why I love the Technicolor screen and its great actresses in the first place.

Armand Strange film with amazing casting and the sign of a great director. Exploration of a delicate universe, fragile, dangerous, dark and egocentric, definition of woman and trial of feelings, gestures and illusions. Fruit of a play in which nuances are more important than colors, games of memories and intentions more relevant than reality, dreams and desires as cages of Bovaric scenes.French taste and sweet shadows in manner of Agatha Christie. Fragments of a ambiguous world and old fires in morning light. A murder, duties and fear, small sins as protective wall, the other as pray, fight with yourself and splendid collection of sentimental guns, traps, expectation and delicate hate. The essential advantage- the presence of woman's secrets in the skin of Ozon's art.A cruel, nostalgic and subtle film with seductive air of old melodramas, satirical traces and ash circles in snow.