8 Women (2002)
"8 femmes" (original title)

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!

Director:

François Ozon

Writers:

François Ozon, Robert Thomas (play),

Stars:

Danielle Darrieux, Catherine Deneuve, Emmanuelle Béart

10 wins & 25 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited 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

Storyline

One morning at an isolated mansion in the snowy countryside of 1950s France, a family is gathered for the holiday season. But there will be no celebration at all because their beloved patriarch has been murdered! The killer can only be one of the eight women closest to the man of the house. Was it his powerful wife? His spinster sister-in-law? His miserly mother-in-law? Maybe the insolent chambermaid or the loyal housekeeper? Could it possibly have been one of his two young daughters? A surprise visit from the victim's chic sister sends the household into a tizzy, encouraging hysterics, exacerbating rivalries, and encompassing musical interludes. Comedic situations arise with the revelations of dark family secrets. Seduction dances with betrayal. The mystery of the female psyche is revealed. There are eight women and each is a suspect. Each has a motive. Each has a secret. Beautiful, tempestuous, intelligent, sensual, and dangerous...one of them is guilty. Which one is it?

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Plot Keywords:

secret | industrialist | cook | murder | maid | 

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Taglines:

Living in a house full of women can be murder.

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Genres:

Musical | Comedy | Crime | Mystery

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some sexual content

Details

Official Sites:

8femmes-lefilm.com [fr] Official site [it]

Country:

France Italy

Language:

French English

Release Date:

20 September 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

8 Women

Box Office

Budget:

€8,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£113,126 (UK) (29 November 2002)

Gross:

£352,581 (UK) (13 December 2002)

Company Credits

Production Co:

BIM, Canal+, Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the German dub, the French actresses have been dubbed by 8 popular German actresses: Senta Berger (Gaby), Hannelore Elsner (Pierrette), Cosma Shiva Hagen (Catherine), Nina Hoss (Louise), Nicolette Krebitz (Suzon), Ruth-Maria Kubitschek (Mamy), Katja Riemann (Augustine), Jasmin Tabatabai (Mme Chanel)

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Goofs

On two occasions the ladies refer to the gun as a revolver but it is clearly a semi-automatic pistol.

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Quotes

[first lines]
[in French, using English subtitles]
Suzon: I'm going in, Mom.

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Connections

References Sitcom (1998)

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Soundtracks

"Toi jamais"
(You Never)
Music and Lyrics by Michel Mallory
Sung by Catherine Deneuve

User Reviews

A Playful Romp with Great Actresses

8 Femmes is a playful mystery/musical/dark comedy that hearkens back to Jacques Demy's Parapluies de Cherbourg, which also starred Catherine Deneuve, and Demoiselles de Rochefort, in which Danielle Darrieux and Deneuve played mother and daughter. The story stars off as a classic tale of murder in a closed room of an isolated mansion, and all of the eight women become suspects. As the various clues and revealed secrets begin to pile up and become more and more absurd, however, it becomes clear that the mystery is secondary to exploring the various kinds of relationships that exist between these women and the way they have all been affected by their relationships (or lack of relationships) with men, especially the man who has been killed.

The mystery is also secondary to having a good time, which everyone seems to be doing. One of the main strengths of the movie is that it doesn't take itself too seriously. The director and all of the actresses seem to be enjoying themselves so much that a sense of fun radiates throughout the film. Ozon uses laughter and black humor, however, to investigates the pain, rivalry and joy that arise between mothers and daughters, pairs of sisters, sisters-in-law, women servants and their mistresses, and women in love with other women. It's a grand buffet of fine acting and difficult to pick out the best of the bunch - all eight women are wonderful - but Isabelle Huppert steals a number of scenes (hard to do in that company) with the most over the top and unexpected performance. Each woman has great moments, however, sometimes of tenderness, sometimes of hilarious bitchiness, and once in a while, of sudden and intense emotional revelation. The songs that each one sings give a bit of insight to their characters and add to the overall fun of the film, but they also present dramatic challenges to the actresses, and all of them do well in making these musical numbers work.

It's great to see Darrieux again, and she does an excellent job as the matriarch of the clan who seems to be a frail and loving old grandmother at first but then pulls one surprise after another. The funniest bit in the film, a wicked moment of black comedy, involves an argument between her and daughter Gaby (Deneuve) that ends in shocking and unladylike violence. The song chosen for Darrieux to sing at the end, a haunting and poignant piece written by French poet Louis Aragon and the great singer-songwriter Geogre Brassens, pulls the film together emotionally in an unexpected way.

People expecting a straight mystery film may be disappointed in and confused by the film, and the American distributors haven't helped matters any by failing to mention on the back of the video box that 8 Femmes is a musical and a dark comedy as well. But for those viewers who have an open mind and are in the mood for a playful mystery with several great actresses, they should be greatly rewarded.