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This is a modified version of a piece comparing this film with She Said that was first posted on this site in October last year, after both movies screened at the London Film Festival.

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Hidden down there at the end of the Oscar Best Picture nominations list this year is this; Sarah Polley’s Women Talking. It’s an outlier for the award, one of the nine that no one expects to actually take the big prize, but by my mind it is better than all of the higher profile movies it is up against. It has more to say about social conflict than The Banshees of Inishiren, it portrays the need for escape in more significant ways than The Fabelmans, everyone here is trapped in chosen roles more than the famous protagonist in Elvis, it is twice as nerve wracking as Top Gun: Maverick, it tackles MeToo way better than Tár, it shows ordinary woman finding unexpected strength in ways beyond Everything Everywhere All At Once and the effect is more special than anything in Avatar: the Way of Water.

The film is up for Adapted Screenplay as well, which I think it will win. It is based on Miriam Toews novel, which itself was inspired by real events in 2011 where seven men from an Amish style Mennonite Community in Bolivia were jailed for drugging and raping at least one hundred and fifty women. From the sounds of this you’d think this would be a very hard film to watch and it certainly has its moments but under Polley’s direction it is actually an uplifting, inspiring, rewarding, sweet and occasionally even funny movie. Crucially, the attacks the story is built around have happened prior to the start of the narrative so what we see is exactly what that title says; women talking. The conversation concerns what it is these ladies, with representatives across three generations of three families, are going to do now that they suddenly know that their cuts, bruises and pregnancies are not the results of God punishing them as they have been told.

Despite its very specific setting and inspiration though, Women Talking works really effectively as an allegory and as such can be much more widely applied. More than just this particular group the movie somehow manages to be all about the full array of abuse, violence, bullying, lies and gaslighting that some males have inflicted on females in every circumstance and situation around the world. As the characters discuss their options, even in this very particular circumstance, it is easy to see how their responses to what has happened can be applied to any number of women and girls who have suffered similar crimes. When it says this film is inspired by true events it isn’t just talking about what happened in Bolivia. Furthermore, by spending all of its time with the women who have been wronged it retains the focus that last years’ She Said never quite captured. That was a movie that talks about giving women a voice whereas this is a film that actually gives them one itself.

Women Talking also examines the compromise women in this situation will accept, the willingness to sacrifice principles, the consideration to protect others, the threat of more attacks, the attitudes toward other men, the responsibilities of parents, the need to educate young boys and the strength of shared feminine power. There is so much more to this discussion and it is all here.

The area in which Women Talking has not had any Oscar attention is in the acting, which is a bit of a surprise as the performances are excellent. This isn’t unusual with ensemble casts though and it is impossible make a call between Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, Judith Ivey and Sheila McCarthy. I am sad that Polley hasn’t been recognised for her directing as the framing and shot composition in Women Talking needs to be talked about too.

There have been some excellent films examining female experience recently; The Assistant, Bombshell, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, The Invisible Man, Moxie and the incredible Promising Young Woman, but this one probably speaks to the variety of that experience better than any other. You should definitely hear what it has to say.