Women Talking

Women Talking

Orion Pictures, Plan B Entertainment, Hear/Say Productions

United Artists Releasing, Universal Pictures

Description

Do nothing. Stay and fight. Or leave. In 2010, the women of an isolated religious community grapple with reconciling a brutal reality with their faith.

Release date

December 2, 2022

Directed by

Sarah Polley

Screenplay by

Sarah Polley

Based on

Women Talking by Miriam Toews

Produced by

Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Frances McDormand

Starring

Rooney Mara as Ona Friesen

Claire Foy as Salome Friesen

Jessie Buckley as Mariche Loewen

Ben Whishaw as August Epp

Frances McDormand as Scarface Janz

Judith Ivey as Agata

Sheila McCarthy as Greta

Michelle McLeod as Mejal

Emily Mitchell as Miep Friesen

Liv McNeil as Nietje

Kate Hallett as Autje

August Winter as Nettie/Melvin

Kira Guloien as Anna

Shayla Brown as Helena

Cinematography

Luc Montpellier

Edited by

Roslyn Kalloo

Music by

Hildur Guðnadóttir

Writer/Director Sarah Polley discusses 'Women Talking'

In Women Talking, a group of women, many of whom disagree on essential things, have a conversation to figure out how they might move forward together to build a better world for themselves and their children.

Though the backstory behind the events in Women Talking is violent, the film is not. We never see the violence that the women have experienced. We see only short glimpses of the aftermath.  Instead, we watch a community of women come together as they must decide, in a very short space of time, what their collective response will be.

When I read Miriam Toews’ book, it sunk deep into me, raising questions and thoughts about the world I live in that I had never articulated. Questions about forgiveness, faith, systems of power, trauma, healing, culpability, community, and self-determination. It also left me bewilderingly hopeful.

I imagined this film in the realm of a fable. While the story in the film is specific to a small religious community, I felt that it needed a large canvas, an epic scope through which to reflect the enormity and universality of the questions raised in the film. To this end, it felt imperative that the visual language of the film breathe and expand. I wanted to feel in every frame the endless potential and possibility contained in a conversation about how to remake a broken world.

(l-r.) Michelle McLeod stars as Mejal, Sheila McCarthy as Greta, Liv McNeil as Neitje, Jessie Buckley as Mariche, Claire Foy as Salome, Kate Hallett as Autje, Rooney Mara as Ona and Judith Ivey as Agata in director Sarah Polley’s film, WOMEN TALKING

(l-r.) Rooney Mara stars as Ona, Claire Foy as Salome, Judith Ivey as Agata, Sheila McCarthy as Greta, Michelle McLeod as Mejal and Jessie Buckley as Mariche in director Sarah Polley’s film WOMEN TALKING

Rooney Mara stars as Ona in director Sarah Polley’s film WOMEN TALKING

Jessie Buckley stars as Mariche and Judith Ivey as Agata in director Sarah Polley’s film WOMEN TALKING

(l-r.) Ben Whishaw stars as August, Rooney Mara as Ona and Claire Foy as Salome in director Sarah Polley’s film WOMEN TALKING

Judith Ivey stars as Agata and Claire Foy as Salome in director Sarah Polley’s film WOMEN TALKING

(l-r.) Actors Rooney Mara, Judith Ivey, Claire Foy and director Sarah Polley on the set of their film WOMEN TALKING

Director Sarah Polley on the set of her film WOMEN TALKING.

(l-r.) Emily Mitchell stars as Miep, Claire Foy as Salome and Rooney Mara as Ona in director Sarah Polley’s film WOMEN TALKING