8 femmes (2002)

Director:

François Ozon

Writers:

François Ozon (writer)
Robert Thomas (play)

Release Date:

20 September 2002 (USA)

Genre:

Musical | Comedy | Crime | Mystery

Tagline:

Living in a house full of women can be murder.

Plot:

One murdered man, eight women, each seeming to be more eager than the others to know the truth. Gimme, gimme, gimme some clues to make up my mind. And eventually enter the truth. Oh, thou cruel woman!

Plot Keywords:

Maid | Murder | Seduction | Pregnancy | Digit In Title

Awards:

8 wins & 25 nominations

Cast

Danielle Darrieux	...	Mamy
Catherine Deneuve	...	Gaby
Isabelle Huppert	...	Augustine
Emmanuelle Béart	...	Louise
Fanny Ardant	...	Pierrette
Virginie Ledoyen	...	Suzon
Ludivine Sagnier	...	Catherine
Firmine Richard	...	Madame Chanel
Dominique Lamure	...	Marcel, the husband

Also Known As:

8 Women (International: English title)
8 donne e un mistero (Italy)
Huit femmes (France) (alternative spelling)

MPAA:

Rated R for some sexual content.

Runtime:

111 min

Country:

France | Italy

Language:

French | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Malaysia:18PL | Iceland:L | Portugal:M/16 | South Korea:15 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Brazil:14 | Canada:14A | Chile:14 | Finland:K-11 | France:U | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIA | Netherlands:AL | Norway:11 | Peru:14 | Singapore:M18 | Singapore:PG (cut) | Spain:T | Sweden:7 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:12 (canton of the Grisons) | UK:15 | USA:R

Company:

BIM

Trivia:

Virginie Ledoyen played Suzon who was pregnant, actually was pregnant in real life. Danielle Darrieux made a joke about that saying "Actually it was 'neuf femmes' and not huit".

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): On two occasions the ladies refer to the gun as a revolver but it is clearly a semi-automatic pistol.

Quotes:

Catherine: Suzon, I forgot one thing. I heard a strange sound. I looked through Augustine's keyhole, and I saw her standing at the mirror with something shiny. I thought nothing of it, but now I'm sure she was sharpening a knife!
Augustine: You liar! I was holding my mother-of-pearl comb and cleaning it.
Gaby: At 3:00 am?
Augustine: Combs never sleep!

Movie Connections:

Version of "Au théâtre ce soir: Huit femmes" (1972)

Soundtrack:

Toi jamais

Well crafted drama/mystery/musical...

1st watched 1/23/2005 - 9 out of 10(Dir-Francois Ozone): Well crafted drama/mystery/musical that is so full it's hard to critique into a summary. The basic plot is that 8 related women find themselves in the same place at approximately the same time when the lone man is presumed to be murdered, who happens to be the grandfather, father, husband, bearer of child, lover etc… of the women(not necessarily in that order). You talk about complexity of plot? Every time someone opens their mouth another twist is thrown into the mix. I think it would take at least another viewing to understand everyone's relationship with everyone else by the end of the movie. And besides this, musical numbers are thrown in to help us understand the characters that are sung by themselves and sometimes backed up by the rest of the cast(ala Bollywood). One thing I have always noticed about French movies is that they come across as a confused people but they're OK with that, instead of the American's who believe that "they" have the answers to everything. This makes it slightly un-comfortable for us pompous Americans to view movies like this where every "real" thing in life is kind of taken with a little tongue-in-cheek mentality but this is the reality of their people and it's present often in their movies. Good for them!! This is so evident in this movie where because of it's mystery plot, we think that who did the killing is what's important, but what we find out is that there is much more behind the so-called answer we're seeking which makes for a very complex experience. Thank you French cinema. Without it there would not be movies like this.