8 Women (2002, aka 8 femmes)

Synopsis:

In 1950s France, members of a wealthy family start getting ready to celebrate Christmas at their spacious countryside mansion. However, the jolly holiday festivities end abruptly after the family patriarch is found stabbed to death in his room.

Reaction & Thoughts:

“There is no happy love.”

Over the last four decades, I’ve watched lots of movies, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like François Ozon’s 8 Women before. It’s difficult to categorize it because of its gonzo structure: it’s a whodunit, it’s a campy melodrama, it’s a musical. It’s even a Christmas movie. Not only that, but it is also obstinately theatrical. But in the end, the movie does work despite ample opportunities to fall flat on its face.

Adapted from a stage play by Robert Thomas, this is like if Agatha Christie, Douglas Sirk and Vincente Minnelli had a baby. You have a Christie-like murder-mystery, a soapish drama à la Sirk, and musical numbers in the style of Minnelli’s 1958 Gigi. I didn’t know what to think at first, but after a while I got wrapped up in the craziness.

In actuality, despite being a bizarre hodgepodge of ideas and styles, I thought it succeeded at every level. There’s something really exciting about watching a movie that is determined to break away from preexisting storytelling formulas — this is a movie with guts! It’s unabashedly self-aware and cunningly subversive, and the story moves along entertainingly and wittily. And the “surprise ending” was… surprising!

Plus, the ensemble cast is fantastic! As the title suggests, there are only eight female speaking roles, and each one is played to perfection. What’s great about the small cast is that each actress has at least one memorable moment — every character feels necessary to the narrative. You can’t eliminate a character, or a scene, without losing something important, and that’s the hallmark of a well-constructed story.

Although the actors are uniformly good, I was partial to Catherine Deneuve (Repulsion), who is luminous as the tough-as-nails matriarch of the family. I also loved Isabelle Huppert’s (Elle) hilarious performance as Deneuve’s neurotic spinster sister. And, is there anyone sexier than Fanny Ardant (Ridicule)? Ardant plays the patriarch’s chic mistress. Finally, it was great seeing legendary French actress Danielle Darrieux (The Earrings of Madame de) as Deneuve’s manipulative mother.

Conclusions & Final Thoughts:

8 Women is a love letter to ’50s Hollywood, and the people who love that era of filmmaking. It goes without saying that if you’ve never seen movies like All that Heaven Allows (1955) or Written on the Wind (1956), you won’t understand what director François Ozon is trying to do here. In any event, the musical interludes are charming, and the murder-mystery is surprisingly good. Think Rian Johnson’s Knives Out movies with songs and dances. Color, 111 minutes, Rated R.

Theatrical Trailer: