ReelBob: ‘Women Talking’ ★★★½

By Bob Bloom

From the outside, it is easy ask why women in abusive relationships simply don’t leave.

The answer or, in this case, answers are complicated and multifaceted as writer-director Sarah Polley impressively demonstrates in “Women Talking.”

The movie, based on a best-selling book by Miriam Toews, deals with a group of women in an isolated religious community who grapple with reconciling their cruel reality with their faith.

The film takes place during an afternoon and evening in which eight women meet in the community’s barn to debate whether to stay or flee. Most of the men have been arrested on rape or sexual abuse charges after it was learned they had been drugging the women, then convincing them that their post-attack injuries were the work of the devil or demons.

Unlike Toews’ book, Polley’s movie does not depict a specific sect, faith nor locale. She is thus saying the events represented here are universal.

“Women Talking” is a painful movie. Not in a physical manner, but in the way the women reveal what they have been through and try to filter it with their strong belief in God. At times, their anguish jumps from the screen into your soul.

It is striking that the women are not of one mind: some talk about killing the men when they return; others want them banished. Still others advocate for leaving the community, while a few believe forgiveness is the righteous path to follow.

As the title suggests “Women Talking” is a dialogue-driven movie, and the women’s voices that propel the film. Their tones run the gamut from anger to fear to uncertainty about a future without the men.

The one constant for them all is the betrayal by those whom they believed were ordained to love and protect them.

An all-star cast, featuring Claire Foy, Rooney Mara, Jessie Buckley, Judith Ivey and Frances McDormand, hits a nerve within you as you listen in disbelief how God and religious tenets were controlling devices used by the community’s men to subjugate the women.

In the end, the story is one of triumph as these women — oppressed for so many years — decide to rise up and fight back in a manner befitting their beliefs.

“Women Talking” is shocking and compelling, making you want to somehow reach out and help them. And you eventually breathe a sigh of relief as these women find the courage to do what is best for them, their children and their faith.

I am a founding member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association. I review movies, 4K UHD, Blu-rays and DVDs for ReelBob (ReelBob.com), The Film Yap and other print and online publications. I can be reached by email at bobbloomjc@gmail.com. You also can follow me on Twitter @ReelBobBloom and on Facebook at ReelBob.com or the Indiana Film Journalists Association. My movie reviews also can be found at Rotten Tomatoes: www.rottentomatoes.com.

WOMEN TALKING
3½ stars out of 4
(PG-13), sexual assault, bloody images, mature thematic content, language