8 1/2 Women
BB
(out of 5)
After the death of his wife, a millionaire industrialist calls his son home to him for comfort. The son, who has been living in Japan and managing the father’s highly lucrative pachinko parlours, brings with him his Japanese girlfriend, whom he insists his father share a bed with in order that he might recover emotionally after his loss. More and more women get added to their household until the two badass Brits have an entire harem going on, which includes a stony-faced nun (Toni Collette), a highly fertile beauty and a horseback-riding accident victim (Amanda Plummer) in a brace. Peter Greenaway’s hopelessly strange film could possibly inspire debate as to whether or not it is promoting the objectification of women or criticizing it, but it’s a conversation to be had by anyone not bored enough to turn it off. The actors are all wonderfully droll, but the pace is sluggish and the immature, provocative dialogue is too desperate to shock. The film takes far too long to move and never really rewards its audience with anything worth remembering.
Woodline Productions, Movie Masters, Delux Productions, Continent Film GmbH, Kasander & Wigman Productions
United Kingdom/The Netherlands/Luxembourg/Germany, 1999
Directed by Peter Greenaway
Screenplay by Peter Greenaway
Cinematography by Sacha Vierny, Reinier van Brummelen
Produced by Kees Kasander
Production Design by Wilbert Van Dorp, Emi Wada
Costume Design by Emi Wada
Film Editing by Elmer Leupen
Film Festivals: Cannes 1999, TIFF 1999
Cast Tags: Amanda Plummer, Ann Overstall Comfort, Annie Shizuka Inoh, Barbara Sarafian, Bettina Scheuritzel, Ciaran Mulhern, Claire Johnston, Dean Harrington, Denise Gregoire, Derek Kueter, Don Warrington, Elizabeth Berrington, Hairi Katagiri, Hanji Mishima,Hisayuki Yoshioka, Jean-Gabriel Dupuy, Jill Mercedes, John Overstall, John Standing, Jules Werner, Julian Nest, Kango Fujima, Katsuya Kobayashi,Kirina Mano, Kiyosi Ishiguro, Malcolm Turner, Manna Fujiwara, Matthew Delamere, Myriam Muller, Natacha Amal, Noriyuki Konishi, Patrick Hastert, Pol Hoffmann, Polly Walker, Radica Jovicic, Ryota Tsuchiya, Sachiko Meguro,Sascha Ley, Satomi Ando, Senyoichi Nishikawa, Sophie Langevin, Stéphane Prevot, Takumi Matsui, Toni Collette, Tony Kaye, Toyonosuke Fujima,Vivian Wu, Vladimir Bogachov, Yurika Sano
