Women Talking

Our new column celebrates the next generation of Canadian film talent, and the 18-year-old Albertan earned her place with an awe-inspiring professional ...

Movie reviews: 'Women Talking' is Oscar-bound, elegant filmmaking · Audience note: This review contains mention of sexual violence and abuse. · THE PALE BLUE EYE: ...

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Actors Rooney Mara, Judith Ivey, Claire Foy and director Sarah Polley on the set of their film Women Talking. The women talking in the hayloft reject victimhood ...

The men are going to return and if the women are going to escape this horror, they've got to make their choice and act. And besides the range of thinking, there's the deadline. First, following the example of Jesus, they wash each other's feet before they talk -- and they believe their very souls may be in peril. The group gathers in the hayloft of the barn to deliberate. His parents had been excommunicated, but he’s returned to be a teacher for the boys, and the women trust him, more or less. But then, all the men in the colony leave to post bail, with the warning that by the time they get back in two days, the women must either forgive the rapists or else leave the colony forever.

The movie Women Talking, directed by Sarah Polley, follows the novel in many ways, capturing both its emotional desolation and flashes of humor. But Polley and ...

[she has said](https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-women-will-write-their-own-stories-a-q-and-a-with-miriam-toews-on-women-talking/), adding that she was “horrified but not surprised” by the crimes in Bolivia. The movie is narrated, in voiceover, by a grown-up version of Autje (Kate Hallett), one of the two teenagers who takes part in the hayloft debate, and she addresses her narration to a child conceived but not yet born during the movie’s events. Though eight of the men convicted of rape remain in prison in Bolivia, community leaders have The women know that church authorities expect them to forgive their assailants, and will condemn them as heretics if they refuse to do so. [was raised in a small Mennonite town](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/aug/18/miriam-toews-interview-women-talking-mennonite) in Manitoba, published her novel [Women Talking](https://bookshop.org/a/132/9781635574340), in which eight women from a fictional Mennonite community meet in a hayloft to debate their response to a similar series of crimes. Surprisingly, the narrator of the novel Women Talking is a man: August Epps, whose family was exiled from the community years earlier, has returned to teach at its school (which only boys are allowed to attend), and the women enlist him to document their secret meeting. At the same time, Autje’s adult reflections assure the movie’s audience that at least one of the women will live to tell her tale; the novel provides no such certainty. “We’re only women talking,” one of the group tells an interloper. Eventually, [nine men were convicted](https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-48265703) of the assault and rape of 151 women and girls. August, who is considered a “failed farmer” and thus widely despised in the community, represents a far gentler form of manhood, one willing to listen as women talk. The movie Women Talking, directed by Sarah Polley, follows the novel in many ways, capturing both its emotional desolation and flashes of humor. [the horrific reality](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/sep/10/mennonites-rape-bolivia): in the early 2000s, in an isolated Mennonite community in the Bolivian lowlands, women began to awaken naked, disoriented, and in pain, sometimes covered with cuts and bruises.

LINDA HOLMES, HOST: A warning - this episode contains discussion of sexual assault and domestic abuse. (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC).

And you're going to want to read little parts of it, and you're going to want to think about the magic, and then you're going to want to think about the words that you know. This is a historical fantasy novel, and it's been compared mostly, I think, to "The Golden Compass," Philip Pullman's book, which I think is - and it's kind of easy to see why. And the science fiction part comes in because, like, it's a very high-tech universe where they have these machines that is making farming so easy, that is - there are these flying cars which is making travelling so easy. At the end of the day, this is a story that, I think, encourages us to think of this world as a humanist world or one that should be humanist-forward. And it is - I mean, you just feel the accountability that - it was very, very powerful for me. And Sara probably does a really good job of taking that observation and putting it in the hands of the camera and putting it literally on the hands of the women in a way that I think is just so, so beautiful. They - none of these women - because this community is so insular and because it's so retrograde, none of these women are educated. HARDYMON: One of the things that's so beautiful just - and, again, directly from the book - the idea of the minutes that he's taking and that they are also supposed to serve this larger purpose - they also serve this very personal purpose, which is that, you know, he is in love with one of the women. But you should absolutely go watch it, especially if you like this movie, because I think what both this and "Stories We Tell" and even her earlier films like "Take This Waltz" - I think so much of it is about language and the importance of language. But I think what makes it challenging is that some of the ways that filmmakers are most likely to distinguish characters, particularly in an ensemble cast, are not really available to Sarah Polley in this film. And it's not - it's one of the girls that's the narrator in the film. And one thing that it does very well, which reminded me of "She Said," is the way the women are filmed.

Frances McDormand says reading Miriam Toews' book, "Women Talking," after it was published in 2019, helped her recognize, process and express the feelings ...

"It's like when you kill off one of the main characters in a long-format TV show. I wanted to write about it." How dare you do that?' It's a good way to go about it." "It's an unusual structure for a novel, but it was a thing that just called me. "It had everything I sort of hope for, in addition to being about something I feel so much about," she added. "That was, for me, how I organized [the story], and then there were two families, several generations from each family, coming together. "When I first heard about these rapes, these attacks some time around 2009, 2010, I was horrified. "It posited a different way to talk about all the noise that was around us. "I was really fascinated with the conversation and very anxious about it. "It's so efficient. We think of the hayloft now as a very sacred place." There was a consequence.

Rated PG-13. At the AMC Boston Common, Regal Fenway, Coolidge Corner and suburban theaters. Grade: B. Based on a 2018 novel by Canadian writer Miriam Toews, ...

Much of the look and drama of “Women Talking” recalls “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Toews book is based loosely on actual events that occurred at the Manitoba Colony in Bolivia. Otherwise, “Women Talking” seems designed for the stage. “Women Talking” has power. That is Ben Wishaw (“Mary Poppins Returns”), the most recent Q of the Bond films, as August, the school teacher, whose only students are boys and who is the only male allowed in the hayloft to take notes on the meetings. Ona, Salome (Claire Foy) and the notably angry and scornful Mariche (Jessie Buckley), who is married to one of the most violent attackers, are about the same age and height, and at times it is difficult to tell apart. The idea of women trapped in an abusive situation by faith, family, environment, warfare and other circumstance is certainly sympathetic.

With 'Women Talking,' 'Blonde' and 'She Said,' the production company has three high-profile Oscar contenders in the running.

“I think the accusations are inaccurate. “I found the vitriol super-confusing,” says Gardner. All are meant to be illustrations of power, isolation, fear — and I don’t think those things are gender-specific.” These three are all in the conversation, and I’m appreciative of the timing of it all.” “She Said,” directed by Marie Schrader, follows the two women reporters investigating the predatory behavior of Harvey Weinstein. [Plan B](https://variety.com/t/plan-b/) Entertainment has seen its three high-profile [Oscar](https://variety.com/t/oscar/) contenders debut nearly simultaneously: “Women Talking” (UA via MGM), “Blonde” (Netflix) and “She Said” (Universal).

Sarah Polley's ambitious adaptation of Miriam Toews' novel of the same title is a poignant contemplation about women, their systemic subjugation and ...

Mara Rooney (“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” “The Social Network”) is one of the young women violated and impregnated in her sleep. Tom is also a member of the Boston Society of Film Critics and rides his bike everywhere. There’s also a school of thought that the boys, and even the men, are victims of tradition, lore and a religion that enables it all. The one XY allowed up in the loft is a sheepish lad by the name of August (Ben Whishaw), tasked with taking notes of what the women say and to help record the events that led to this moment. It’s a dark tale that, in the wake of Harvey Weinstein and #MeToo, feels necessary and on point. Polley never tells us explicitly we’re embedded in a Mennonite community, and for a while you feel you could be on an Amish farm in rural Pennsylvania, or even the Calvinist outpost in Robert Eggers’ “The Witch” (2015), but then a pickup truck blasting “Daydream Believer” rolls down a dusty road and there’s a reality-check moment that feels right out of M.

Le nouveau film de Sarah Polley est également en nomination aux Golden Globes. Entretien avec la cinéaste canadienne...

En Salome, Claire Foy est déchirée par le doute et par la volonté de concilier sa foi et les violences faites. «Nous avions également établi une règle que les actrices pouvaient arrêter une scène et prendre une pause lorsqu’elles le voulaient. Je ne savais pas du tout comment et où elle s’insérait dans le film, mais je tenais à l’inclure.» Puis est venu le temps du «casting» et des auditions. Les femmes et deux fillettes sont confrontées à un choix déchirant: rester et pardonner, rester et résister aux assauts des hommes ou partir et tenter de reconstruire leur vie. Est-ce donc un hasard si «Women Talking», adaptation du roman éponyme de la Canadienne Miriam Toews paru en 2018, raconte l’histoire de femmes mennonites, droguées et violées à répétition par les hommes de leur communauté?

Content warning: This article discusses sexual abuse and violence that may be triggering or upsetting to some readers. Women Talking is an intense, ...

Claire Foy, who plays Salome in the film, told Newsweek that she [believed this sensitive material](https://www.newsweek.com/claire-foy-women-talking-true-story-1768116#:~:text=Women%20Talking%20is%20based%20on,assaulted%20151%20women%20and%20girls.) was “in the right hands.” She added, “It's been directed by Sarah who is extraordinary and Dede [Gardner] and Frances [McDormand] have produced it, and I don't think you could get a better group of creative people to make this film responsibly and sensitively.” And it’s one you are not going to want to miss. The Mennonites are considered a pacifist community, but Toews (and Polley in the recently released film version) wondered if there might not be a thirst for revenge. But the original idea behind [Toews’ own 2018 novel](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40046077-women-talking) was loosely based on a horrific story from a Mennonite community that took place from 2005 to 2009 in Manitoba, Bolivia. [ Sarah Polley-directed new film ](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/women-talking-movie-review-2022) [Women Talking](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/women-talking-movie-review-2022) — starring Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, and Frances McDormand to name a few — was actually adapted from the novel of the same name by Miriam Toews, a Canadian writer who herself grew up in a Mennonite community in remote Manitoba. [how those women might have responded](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/03/25/a-beloved-canadian-novelist-reckons-with-her-mennonite-past).