Rating: 
Summary: Whodunit? A french Version of CLUE
Review: I don't know how to review this honestly as I am split down the middle. In all honesty it reminds me of the American film "Clue". Everyone is stranded in a big house, one person gets murdered, and everyone has a motive. I didn't like the musical numbers and really the film didn't hold my interest very well. I did get a kick though when the mistress arrives, sees her dead lovers body, screams, then runs to the firplace and starts singing and stripping off her clothes while singing lines such as "When the bill comes, you have to pay".
Watch "Clue" instead, it is much more entertaining.
Rating: 
Summary: So much fun!
Review: I love Francois Ozon. His films are twisted, thought provoking and full of sometimes overt, sometimes covert (homo)sexual tension (see Swimming Pool or Criminal Lovers). So when I heard about 8 Women I thought Ozon would miss the mark with this one. Thankfully he didn't. Although this is by far the tamest of Ozon's films, his directorial skills and ability to tell a thoughtfully compelling story that is never uninteresting and keeps you on the edge of your seat is just as evident in this film as in his others. Ozon isn't a stranger to musical numbers in his films (remember the sexy dance number used as the theatrical trailer to Water Drops on Burning Rocks?) so I wasn't surprised at the first infectious pop musical number. When the second musical number made its appearance I was a bit surprised until I realized it was a vehicle for each character to reveal her personal pathos. I then looked forward to each new musical number that appeared. The plot is your typical Agatha Christie whodunit fare where everyone is lying to hide their secret, where no amount of backstabbing and name-calling is enough. What really makes this a great film is the attention to detail and the beautiful, beautiful women. The film has that gorgeous 50s Technicolor look, the costumes are impeccable 50s French couture and the women are so gorgeous you're hard pressed to pick which one is the most beautiful. This a film that is meant purely for entertainment and boy is it ever entertaining. How can you not like it?
Rating: 
Summary: A murder mystery musical drama...
Review: 8 Women is a murder mystery musical drama that was made for the theater stage, but has now been transformed onto the silver screen by François Ozon. The story takes place in a small mansion where 8 women are snowed in and cut off from the world after they find the businessman Marcel stabbed in the back. They all have motives to have had committed the murder, but as they cannot leave they suspect and fear each other. The question is who is the guilty woman? 8 Women is an funny murder mystery that continuously feeds the audience clues, but always keeps the audience on their toes. In the end, this is a pretty good cinematic experience, but 8 Women was probably better on the stage.
Rating: 
Summary: SEE 8 1/2 WOMEN INSTEAD
Review: Imagine getting snowbound in a cabin with 8 WOMEN (Universal) and a dead body and then have to witness each woman sing and dance (badly) as they tell their story. Who dunnit? Who cares! A whopping French dud. See 8 1/2 women instead.
Rating:
Summary: Different Strokes for Different Folks
Review: What a fantasia of French Filming! Not being too familiar with the actresses, I went into this movie with an open mind. No preconceived notions. It took just a few moments to get used to reading the subtitles and watching the faces for the reactions and subtlety that makes the film what it is. It is what I would call kitsch or campy, but that is not a terrible thing! The sheer unexpectedness of suddenly bursting into song during a heated scene is magical. The women are all beautiful in there way, and are able to reveal the facets of their character in such an intriguing way, that you are crying for more by the film's end. The only thing that I personally found a little off about the movie is the overwhelming lesbian influences. Don't get me wrong, I am not a judge on any form of sexuality or other supposed social morays or taboos, and certain character's sexuality is integral to the plot. It is just that this film seemed to be overflowing with it. Which to me, distracted from the plot, rather than adding to it. All in all, an excellent choice that has become a permanent part of my film collection.
Rating:
Summary: a delightful movie from across the ocean
Review: I was not expecting too much since my knowledge of French language does go beyond "champagne" and may be a few more words but fell in love with this movie and French women as whole. stunning music and fantastic story line. It's all happening within the same house and within a 3000 sq. feet area but you never get bored and even though the background of the canvas (think of a picture)is very limited still stretches of imagination outside the canvas (the unfolding of the story) is remarkable. Please do not compare it to Moulin Rouge or Chicago since they are of different genre (it will be same as comparing Michael Jordan with Barry bonds) . I promise you will enjoy it. The twist in the end is also entertaining. Just one point - there is scope of improvement in the camera work.
Rating:
Summary: deliciously stuck in the 50's
Review: Apart from the classical pattern of the plot, Agatha Christie-like, this movie gives a good idea of what a classical movie parody should be. Each charater has well defined features, illustrated by the songs chosen by the movie maker, and that's what characterizes a musical: the story stops, and the character reveals her inner self in a song. And what a song! All of the songs are part of the French culture. Maybe that's why it doesn't have the same echo and meaning for the American audience.
The dresses are awesome, the house is just such a perfect and exagerated illustration of the 50's. The dialogues are clever and full of humor. The little shows performed with the songs are amazingly beautiful though very simple. And the cast is incredible. So many good reasons to see it!
Rating:
Summary: the French don't get it
Review: After the resurgence of musicals (Moulin Rouge, Knight's Tale, Chicago), the French decided to do a musical as well, but apparently this is much too happy a concept for the French personality, and they butchered the job. The movie plays like a British stage mystery; 8 women snowed into a house with a dead man, murdered by one of them, telephone cut, who's next to be killed? On this level alone, the movie is trite, unimaginative, and poorly done. Then to make it worse, at some point each one of the 8 woman will have a singing/dancing number, unbelievably bad choreography coupled with a song of no musical value. The only way to get anything out of this movie is to turn off the sound and just watch Catherine Deneuve act and move (except for her badly done dance number).
Rating:
Summary: For those who love French songs of the '60s
Review: Actually, apart from Catherine Deneuve who is famous worldwide, the other actresses of this French movie are not quite unfamiliar to the American audience either. I believe most moviegoers must have recognized Emmanuelle Beart (the sexy girl of "Mission Impossible"), Isabelle Huppert (the frustrating woman of "The Piano Teacher"), Virginie Ledoyen (Francoise of "The Beach"), Fanny Ardant (Mary de Guise of "Elizabeth"), and Ludivine Sagnier (the bombshell of the recently released "Swimming Pool"). As for Danielle Darrieux, strange as it may seem, she once starred as the mother of Catherine Deneuve (and of Catherine's real life sister Francoise Dorleac) in another French musical, "Les demoiselles de Rochefort" -- although that one was not as good as Catherine's debut "Les parapluies de Cherbourg".While watching a movie with all the above mentioned actresses was quite a treat already, I particularly enjoyed them lipsync some beautiful French songs of the '60s: "Pape t'es plus dans le coup" (Daddy you're behind the times, performed by Ludivine Sagnier), "Message personnel" (Personal message, by Isabelle Huppert), "A quoi sert de vivre libre" (What's the use of living free, by Fanny Ardant), "Pour ne pas vivre seul" (To be not alone, by Firmine Richard), "Mon amour mon ami" (My lover my friend, by Virginie Ledoyen), "Pile ou face" (I toss a coin, by Emmanuelle Beart), "Toi jamais" (You never, by Catherine Deneuve), and as if the best was to saved for last, "Il n'y a pas d'amour heureux" (There is no happy love, from a poem by Louis Aragon and performed by Danielle Darrieux).
Rating: 
Summary: Heavy-weight talents in a light-weight film
Review: 8 WOMEN cheerfully mixes the murder mystery, comedy, and musical genres into one film, and features energetic performances from a talented cast. But it is silly, fluffy, and stagy beyond words. Set entirely in a country house during two days in winter, its story follows the familiar Agatha Christie-whodunnit formula and is strictly by the book. The musical numbers are primitively put together, with the amateurish quality of their singing and choreography matching the overall frivolity. The dialogs are at times risque (the movie has an R rating), with the women often reveling in exposing one another's infidelities and sexual inadequacies. Some slapstick is thrown in as well, but nothing memorable. Every aspect of this film is unimpressive except the actors, who work really hard to wring every bit of life out of this inferior farce. This is not the best whodunit you'll ever see. Not the best comedy nor musical you'll ever see. Not the best film you'll ever see by any of the actresses. Seeing Catherine Deneuve in a musical reminds one of the great 1964 musical UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG. Seeing Fanny Ardant in a whodunit brings to mind her work in the sparkling 1983 mystery CONFIDENTIALLY YOURS, directed by the great François Truffaut. Emmanuelle Béart is best remembered for her dramatic turns in such films as UN COEUR EN HIVER and MANON OF THE SPRINGS. And director François Ozon worked with Ludivine Sagnier again in a much better film called SWIMMING POOL. See those films instead of this one.
|
