Women Talking

Showtimes February 3 - 9:

Academy Award Nominee: Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Picture

Sarah Polley’s Women Talking adapts a best-selling novel by Miriam Toews, which was inspired by real-life events that occurred at a Mennonite Colony in Bolivia. When multiple accounts of sexual abuse were uncovered within their colony, a group of women gathered in a hayloft to discuss how to respond. The colony’s men were away, and the women had limited time to make a decision, but they narrowed their options down to three: do nothing, stay and fight, or leave. Some feared that any act of defiance would jeopardize their entry into heaven, while others believed they could not survive without husbands and sons. Some were willing to take any measures to escape the terror of their domestic lives and insist that “the truth is stronger than the rules.”

With her first feature in almost a decade, Polley (Away From Her, Stories We Tell) showcases her unmatched skills as both a screenwriter and a director. The film is at once ferocious in its critique of patriarchal oppression – a critique that clearly extends to our broader, secular culture – while respectful of the beliefs and traditions in which its characters were raised. Though it is suffused with the pain of trauma, a stubborn sense of wonder and quiet joy in community permeate the film. Women Talking ushers us through a journey of rage, grief, wisdom, and hope through to a triumphant, most gratifying conclusion.

(US / 2022 / Directed by Sarah Polley)
PG-13 / 1 hr 44 min