A group decision is never easy. In Captain America: Civil War, the decision to abide by or protest the Sokovia Accords tore the Avengers in half. The Hunger Games victors couldn't decide how best to attack the Capitol and their nemesis, President Snow, and the resulting mixed intentions led to several major deaths. Sarah Polley's upcoming film, Women Talking, tells the story of women in a small Mennonite community that must decide what to do when heinous crimes are committed against them.
The Mennonites are a group of people that initially arose out of the Anabaptists, a reform movement in the sixteenth century. Like other religious convent and community-based groups, Mennonites live a lifestyle accordant to strict rules: baptism of believers, shunning of the excommunicated, and overall, a life withdrawn from society. Mennonite groups are regarded as tightly-knit, highly disciplined, and until the twentieth century, outcasts from most society. In most cases, religious beliefs, social and familial roles, and the prevailing culture are all wrapped into one; Women Talking shows how one decision unravels the identity of the Mennonite women.
Women Talking: The Plot
The central plot of Women Talking includes themes from prominent works from the last few years, notably Under The Banner of Heaven, True Detective, and White Noise.
A horrific true crime took place in Bolivia. Men had been systematically drugging and sexually assaulting members of the colony as well as nearby neighbors. Miriam Toews, the author of Woman Talking, the book upon which the film is based, took the story of that true crime and told the story with an emphasis on the Mennonite women. Her goal in doing this was to break down the perception that the Mennonite women were extremists, cultists, freaks, or even societal outcasts. She wanted to convey them as human beings trying to rectify opposing facets of their identity.
Toews summed up the gist of the story in an NPR article:
"There are eight women, two families, different generations, teenagers and then their mothers and their grandmothers, and all of the women have been attacked, have been raped, including the young children of the women there, and they have two days, 48 hours, to figure out what to do. The options they're considering are to stay and fight, to leave, and to do nothing."
The film keeps this plot to a tee. The "council" of women that Toews described takes place in a hayloft. After the recent arrests of the perpetrators, several men stepped forward to bail them out, clouding what consequences the aggressors faced. The women are ill-equipped: illiterate, isolated, and systematically disenfranchised as a group. Together, they must decide... Should they stay in the colony, their familiar, long-held home? Should they leave and surrender their chance to enter the "kingdom of heaven?" Should they fight the injustices they faced, even if that means a schism in the colony? Should they offer forgiveness? Or, more accurately, how can they after the heinous crimes committed? What parts of their identity take precedence: Mennonite, daughter, wife, woman, or victim?
Women Talking: The Cast & Crew
The film stars Rooney Mara (Carol, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Social Network), Claire Foy (First Man, The Girl in The Spider's Web, The Crown), Jessie Buckley (I'm Thinking of Ending Things, Wild Rose), Ben Whishaw (This Is Going To Hurt, Cloud Atlas, Mary Poppins Returns), and Frances McDormand (Fargo, Nomadland, Good Omens).
In addition to the central cast members, Women Talking also stars Judith Ivey, Sheila McCarthy, Michelle McLeod, Emily Mitchell, Liv McNeil, Kate Hallett, August Winter, Kira Guloien, and Shayla Brown.
The film was written and directed by Sarah Polley as an adaptation of Miriam Toews's novel by the same name. Women Talking marks the fourth feature from Sarah Polley, behind Stories We Tell, Take This Waltz, and Away From Her. It is produced by Frances McDormand, Dede Gardner, and Jeremy Kleiner.
Release Date
The film premiered at the Telluride Film Festival on September 2nd, 2022. It will be theatrically released on December 2nd, 2022.
Everything Else We Know
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Sarah Polley attributed part of the film's success to its predecessors, Moonlight and Nomadland. Both films deal with heavy themes, interpersonal journeys, and main characters with complex, multifaceted identities.
"But I never expected to get to do what I’m doing. I never thought it was a possibility. And this represents the best of the best of the last 10 years, and I believe this represents a shift in our industry.
And it started with “Moonlight.” Our poster says, “From the producers of ‘Moonlight’ and ‘Nomadland,’ a film by Sarah Polley, written, adapted and directed by Sarah Polley.” Those three things together are, for me, a real change in the industry. The moment that “Moonlight” not only existed, but was not recognized in a way that it needed to be, it shifted something in our industry that needs to be acknowledged. It’s time for real shifts in the paradigm of power.
“Moonlight” and “Nomadland” — those two films and those two filmmakers — changed the conversation, and “Women Talking” is a direct descendant of that. Now it’s up to the audience. They have to take some responsibility and continue the conversation."
This collaboration with Sarah Polly, Frances McDormand, and, by extension, Miriam Toews, resulted in a poignant film about womanhood, identity, and freedom.