8 femmes

English title: Eight Women
Genre: comedy drama
Director: François Ozon
Release: 2002
Studio: Fidélité Films, Celluloid Dreams et al. - Focus Features
Rating: R
MBiS score: 8.0/10


Death Takes A Holiday


Suzon (Virginie Ledoyen), a French teen studying in London, heads home to spend the Christmas break with her parents Gaby (Catherine Deneuve) and Marcel (Dominique Lamure), her sister Catherine (Ludivine Sagnier), other relatives and the household staff. On her arrival, everyone is jubilant and everything looks hunky-dory… but a shocking incident will instantly cast a pall over the family reunion and spark a frenzy of suspicion among its members.

What a riot! There is no other way to describe this hodgepodge of a film by François Ozon, screenplay collaborator Marina De Van and playwright Robert Thomas. As a first dare, director Ozon assembled the most celebrated ladies in French cinema to act out his kooky material and, for me at least, it was truly a revelation to see Catherine Deneuve, Virginie Ledoyen and Ludivine Sagnier duke it out with Danielle Darrieux (as Mamie, Gaby’s elderly mother), Isabelle Huppert (Augustine, Gaby’s sister), Fanny Ardant (Pierrette) and housekeepers Emmanuelle Béart (Louise) and Firmine Richard (Madame Chanel). Yes, you are not mistaken: Emmanuelle Béart plays a maid in this one, and a sexy one at that! As a second dare, all actresses were called upon to sing one pertinent song during the picture and, overall, they managed the feat with panache and more than passing talent. As for the movie’s story-line, it too could be considered a dare for it involves some pretty campy stuff played with genuine delectation. In this marathon of meanness, our characters will indulge in breathless finger pointing, reckless innuendo and gleeful mudslinging with results bordering on the surreal. All the while, you will be sitting on the edge of your seat, giddy and befuddled, right up to the film’s startling, high-impact ending.

So, if 8 FEMMES comes your way, don’t dismiss it as an artificial star vehicle. This outrageous whodunit provides glamorous and freewheeling fun in such quantity that your next film experience will seem flat by comparison. You better believe it… too much fun can kill you.


MBiS

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