blanche-2 Francois Ozon directed this interesting and occasionally lighthearted film, "8 Women." It stars Catherine Deneuve, Danielle Darrieux, Isabelle Huppert, Emmanuelle Béart, Fanny Ardant, Ludivine Sagnier, Virginie Ledoyen, and Firmine Richard.The film takes place during a winter in 1950s France where a family congregates for the holidays. Unfortunately, Gaby's (Deneuve) husband is found dead with a knife in his back. Kind of killed the holiday spirit.Since the dogs didn't bark, it must have been someone known to the family. They can't go to the police; the phone line was cut and they are snowed in.As they try to figure out the identity of the murderer, we learn that each woman has a secret, which is revealed during the film. They all had motives. Could it have been Augustin, the dead man's sister-in-law, who lives with the family? How about his beautiful wife? His mother-in-law who is confined to a wheelchair? The chambermaid who, when she lets her hair down, is even more stunning? Or perhaps the housekeeper, loyal but hiding a powerful love? One of his two daughters? His own sister, who runs a brothel? The women discuss who inherits, and multiple motives for murder, and little by little, rivalries, tears, passions, infidelities, and musical numbers emerge.Ozon has given us a look into the female psyche, and he has employed some of France's great actresses to do it. The colors are bright, the women and clothing gorgeous.As someone pointed out, the French do not fear casting older women. Danielle Darrieux was 85 when she made this film; She is now 98 and did a film in 2010. Some French people live a very long time - I think it's the wine.Deneuve, 59 here, is stunning, very elegant and regal. Fanny Ardant as Pierette is gorgeous and sexy, displaying dry wit and disdain for convention. Emmanuelle Beart is the insubordinate, sexually adventurous (according to her) maid who transforms herself during the film, as does Augustin (Isabelle Huppert), the homely sister-in-law. Firmine Richard, a formidable black actress, does an impressive job with the role of Chanel, the housekeeper who finally reveals her secret.They are all so wonderful -- French women to my mind have a very earthy, worldly quality as well as sophistication. When one thinks of some American actresses in comparison, they seem like plain vanilla. It's a generalization, I know, and we do have some fine actresses, but I think the mindset of American show business is focused on youth and typecasting.This film is enjoyable because of the cast and the look of the movie. I can't say the music was fabulous or even fit this story. It was a touch of whimsy and the upbeat tunes were fun. There were some sad ones, too. C'est la vie.

moviesleuth2 Who says murder mysteries can't be fun? Anyone who thinks every crime caper has to be on par with "The Silence of the Lambs" or "Seven" needs to take a look at Francois Ozon's film "8 Femmes." Eight women are stranded in a house with no phone and no way out. Normally this would be a good time for some hot chocolate around a roaring fire, but there's a problem: the man of the house has been murdered, and the culprit can only be one of them! "8 femmes" is wicked fun (though hardly containing anything worthy of an R rating). Fast moving, great acting, and a couple of neat twists make this an entertaining 111 minutes.The cast is compromised of France's most celebrated actresses. Isabelle Huppert. Fanny Ardant. Catherine Denueve. Emmanuelle Beart. All of them give superlative performances. Of special note are Isabelle Huppert as the bitchy Augustine, and Emannuelle Beart as the rather devious maid. The real scene stealer though is Fanny Ardant, as the dead man's sex pot sister. She oozes sexuality and delights in causing trouble.There's really one main problem with "8 Femmes," and it's a doozy, especially since it happens repeatedly. Ozon may be able to keep a playfully claustrophobic atmosphere and keep the audience on their toes, but he has a lot of trouble with the musical numbers. It's not that their bad, or poorly choreographed. It's just that when they start and end it cuts into everything and seems very jarring. The transitions between the music and the speech are terrible (though I liked how the characters knew that someone had just broken into song), and I wonder if leaving the music out would have gotten this film a 10.Still, as it is, "8 Femmes" is a fun watch.

marissas75 In the simply uncategorizable French movie "8 Women," successful businessman Marcel is found stabbed to death in his bed. Whodunit? Was it his wife (Catherine Deneuve) or his estranged sister (Fanny Ardant)? Or his mother-in-law (Danielle Darrieux) or his sister-in-law (Isabelle Huppert)? Or one of his daughters (Virginie Ledoyen, Ludivine Sagnier)? Or his longtime cook (Firmine Richard) or his new housemaid (Emmanuelle Béart)? The movie, however, is less concerned with the murderess's identity than with giving these 8 actresses the chance to show off, in a series of campy, funny, melodramatic scenes. To that effect, there are countless catty remarks and catfights. The revealing of progressively more outrageous family secrets. Lesbianism, twisted love triangles, chic couture wardrobes, transformations from ugly duckling to swan. And, last but not least, musical numbers. The action stops for each woman to dance and sing (usually in a breathy untrained voice) a pop song that reveals her character's emotional state. It's a bizarre mix, but you'll find yourself laughing through your incredulity.Faced with eight such talented actresses it feels rude to single out individual performers, but Huppert's portrayal of the embittered spinster Augustine steals the movie. Every one of her line readings is distinctive and hilarious, making this abrasive, histrionic character an absolute delight to watch. Almost as good is Ardant, playing a surprisingly likable free-spirited bad girl; because her character has no shame, she's at least honest when all the other women tell lies.The lesser-known Firmine Richard gets one of the best musical numbers with "Pour ne pas vivre seul" ("So as not to live alone"), and Sagnier, who was in her early twenties when she filmed the movie, very convincingly plays a bratty 16-year-old.All of the actresses' roles allow them to satirize their own or others' personas: Béart sends up the "seductive French maid" stereotype; Ledoyen is costumed to look like Audrey Hepburn but her character is no girlish innocent; Deneuve plays a variation on her customary chilly, glamorous bourgeois matron. Meanwhile, grande dame Darrieux cuts loose in the role of a meddling, lying grandma."8 Women" is thus more than just a comedy-mystery-musical: it's a witty postmodern comment on movie genres, movie stars, and three generations of French divas. It has a healthy sense of its own absurdity (indeed, how can anyone take this Agatha-Christie-type mystery seriously anymore?) yet all of the actresses are fully committed to telling this ridiculous story. Certainly one of the strangest films I've ever seen, it also--unlike so many serious and earnest modern movies--reminds me of why I love the Technicolor screen and its great actresses in the first place.

B J Or, usually, the work would not stop there. Here it did.The renowned actresses try their best. I can't even say that the plot is bad because it could have worked (the two points I gave are to be derived from that). The problem was that the story just got lost and the movie became a parody of itself. It does not do well as a crime, comedy or musical movie in any manner. 1. Musical? You would need to be able to sing and dance for that to decent melodies. Forget it. I am a musical fan, believe me, this is not a musical in any respect. It is true that there are attempts at some screeching to music-like tunes but saying that there be singing and music is simply not true. 2. Comedy? In as much as this is ridiculous, yes. I also have to admit that I am not an admirer of the so called "French humor" (in case this phenomenon exists at all, anyone encountered it yet?), and could not recognize any comedic parts in here either. 3. Crime time line lost. As a result of the genre mix, the crime line that could have been doing well (I even venture to say that in the beginning, you do have suspense), fades away very soon.4. Lack of characters that are at least interesting. The female characters depicted are to the greatest extent unlikeable and unlikely.A good deal of the screening time tries to deal with the tangled interpersonal relationship of the eight women, but due to lack of time and artistic virtues on behalf of the director (oh yes, it is true, sorry), it just gets out of bounds and is incomprehensible and uninteresting. There is no likeness whatsoever to Agatha Christie's any works (except maybe the very early and lame Mary Westmacott love stories she started with). I do not know, why 8 Femmes has such an excellent rating at IMDb, I suppose it can be derived from the general respect for the cast members, but otherwise, this movie did not work for me, it did not work in any genre it attempted to form the part of, and is should not be legal to have such casts wasted all for nothing.