Women Talking (Review) - Cinerama Film

Women Talking arrives in UK cinemas on 10th February 2023.

Women Talking asks a question I have been asking myself for a while now – “How do we get out of this room?” What should we, as women, do about the endemic culture of rape, sexual abuse and sexual harassment that surrounds and envelops us from birth to death? The premise of Women Talking brings this question into focus. Based on the novel by Miriam Toews, who in turn based her book on real-life events, a group of women in an ultraconservative Mennonite colony convene a meeting. The women have recently learned that the men in the community have been committing acts of rape on both young and old. The men have incapacitated their female victims with an animal tranquiliser, attributing the physical and psychological wreckage left behind to demonic possession or “a wild female imagination.”

With the men having temporarily departed, the women decide to rapidly nominate eight representatives who will agree on a course of action: “Do Nothing”, “Stay and Fight”, or “Leave.” They soon agree that “Do Nothing” is not viable, leaving us with the question of whether they try to reform their society from the inside or break away entirely.

Director Sarah Polley crafts and sustains a unique and intense atmosphere akin to an intimate on-stage production. I’m usually the first to lament the post-2000s desaturation of film and television. Still, in this case, the harsh light and washed-out colour palette complement the story’s underlying themes – the ideological bones of the community blanched by the cold light of day.

The cast is uniformly excellent. Rooney Mara and Jessie Buckley fully submerge themselves in their roles as Ona and Mariche, two of the more overt foils for one another within the group. Meanwhile, Claire Foy is unmistakable as Salome, the young mother who burns white-hot with the need to avenge the violence committed on her young daughter, Miep (Emily Mitchell).

The film pushes the discussion of systemic sexual violence beyond the talking points that have been given the most prominence thus far. August Epp, a former exile from the colony played by Ben Whishaw, serves as a device for Women Talking to explore the role of men in combatting rape culture. But the film also invites its audience to consider the experiences of a group of people who are often overlooked in these discussions.

Ben Whishaw stars as August, Rooney Mara as Ona and Claire Foy as Salome in director Sarah Polley’s film WOMEN TALKING An Orion Pictures Release Photo credit: Michael Gibson © 2022 Orion Releasing LLC. All Rights Reserved.

One of the teenagers we see on the periphery of the meeting is Melvin, who has transitioned gender not long before the events of the film, played by August Winter. The trauma of being raped and going through a subsequent stillbirth was compounded by being socialised as a girl despite having always known that this was not his authentic self.

Trans survivors of sexual assault can often struggle to access support services. In particular, trans men may find themselves in a position where their identity as men is invalid because of preconceived ideas about who fits the profile of a rape victim in our society. Melvin is given space within the film to speak directly about the conflicting emotions of his experience. Without wishing to drift out of my own lane, I am tentatively declaring this subplot a step in the right direction. But I will leave it to trans audiences to weigh in on the specifics.

It’s impossible to talk in any great detail about the substance of the various arguments put forth in the film without giving away the outcome of the group’s decision. Suffice it to say that this is a film that spoke to me on a profound level. Sarah Polley has created something arresting and utterly essential.