Sarah Polley directs Rooney Mara, Claire Foy and Jessie Buckley in this drama where the women of an insular religious community decide what to do when it is revealed some of the men have been raping them in their sleep over the decades and they are now instructed to forgive them.

A #metoo The Crucible… only nowhere near as compelling. Allegory. Talky allegory. Characters who represent reactions rather than fully blooded humans. Viewpoints rather than actual women. Moments of magical realism that clang. Attempts to humanise with bursts of levity and laughter that make no sense. Women Talking can feel almost parodic at times… I guess that’s the ultimate peril of sincerity. The poetry and meaning of the monologues and representations might be worth unstitching if it wasn’t so fucking boring. It does at least look beautiful. Like a Terrence Malick film with the nitrate scraped off. You can’t deny the quality of the cast… although Frances McDormand fans might feel poorly catered for. The slightly touched man sat behind us at the multiplex read the BBFC content warning out loud just before it all began. “Sexual violence references, sexual threat, domestic abuse.” “Ooh excellent!” he proclaimed unguardedly. That was the closest we got to entertainment here.

4

Perfect Double Bill: Stories We Tell (2012)

My wife and I do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/