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Eight Women (8 Femmes)
(Reviewed September 1, 2002, by James Dawson)
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Sort of a guilty pleasure, in that I know some people will see this movie and wonder why I like it so much, so "caveat emptor." As for me, I was completely won over by this stylish, stage-y, retro-Technicolor 1960s period-piece mystery. It takes place entirely at a snowed-in French mansion, where eight women all suspect each other of murdering the master of the house. Each of them sooner or later breaks out in songs that range from kitschy-cool to entertainingly bad, as the plot veers wildly from over-the-top melodramatics to bedroom-farce comedy.
Virginie Ledoyen is absolutely, irresistibly beautiful as Suzon, the daughter who is back from college. Imagine if Natalie Portman had an incredibly cute French cousin with those classically European too-short bangs and a pink-plaid Audrey Hepburn outfit. If your French is as lousy as mine, you'll hate the fact that you have to read the English subtitles when she is on screen--because you will want to spend all of your time staring at her jaw-dropping loveliness.
Other stars include Catherine Deneuve as the Wife With a Secret and smolderingly sexy blond Emmanuaelle Beart as the very archetype of a saucy French maid.
If you start watching this on cable one night, you might tune out fast, thinking it is not quite your cup of cabernet. Stick with it, though, and you just might come to agree that this bubbly French treat is ingratiatingly, enchantingly effervescent!
Back Row Grade: B+
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