I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Good movie but grossly overrated

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

I am a great fan of Ozon and many of the fine actresses in this film but "8 Women" is worse than terrible. It's lazy, self-indulgent, insulting to the intelligence and, well, ultimately plain boring when not infuriating. Really, really, give this a miss and do something of value with your life (if it's only to do your hair and clip your toe-nails).

Actually this is a very good comedy/farce about secrets in everyone's past romantic liaisons. I don't generally like comedy/farce but director Francois Ozon is so good at it I've softened on the genre. The song and dance scenes are hilarious... great fun. And, the story line is superb and perceptive about human frailty in the "battle of the sexes."The 4 rating is for trivializing the suicide of a father which is neither trivial nor funny if it has ever happened to you. Ozon has to take some responsibility for making light of one of the most painful and tragic events a child can ever suffer. Some things are just not funny and should be off limits in comedy. If you really think about it, there are many topics that are so sensitive and morally indisputable that they are never made light of in movies. Unfortunately, suicide is not one of them.

For the final week of ICM's Musical Challenge,I started checking lists for Musicals I may have accidentally overlooked. Finding his 2014 "Woman's Picture" The New Girlfriend to be a tantalising affair, I was intrigued to stumble on a Musical by auteur François Ozon,which led to me meeting each of the eight women.The plot:Meeting up in the family mansion for Christmas, Gaby,Louise, Augustine, Catherine and Suzon decide to keep their disagreements with husband/father Marcel to themselves. Shattering the Christmas spirit,the family members and maid Chanel find Marcel with a knife in his back. As each women circles each other with suspicions, (and all the roads are cut off) they hear a knock at the door and greet fellow Marcel's sister Pierrette,who has somehow been able to reach the mansion. View on the film:Taking the project after originally planning to remake George Cukor's The Women,co-writer/(with Marina de Van) directing auteur François Ozon & cinematographer Jeanne Lapoirie keep the film rooted to a "Woman's Picture" atmosphere,via Ozon startling colour-coding stylisation unveiling Ozon early use of lush colours that pop on the screen,with each woman being dressed to her most elegant. Keying in on the mystery in one location, Ozon and Lapoirie knock down stage limitation with darting camera moves making the quirky Musical numbers appear from nowhere,and stylish whip-pans closing on the suspicions the eight women have for each other. Gathering the women from an adaptation of Robert Thomas's play, the screenplay by Ozon and Marina de Van break all the household rules with a deliciously dark comedic line underlying the classical Murder Mystery setting, via the dialogue having a peculiar tone,with each of the women revealing their inner challenges as the murder victim lays upstairs.Set against the classical backdrop of the family mansion, the writers turn the setting inside out with a sharp wit peeling away at every clue each family member has, to reveal an ingenious twist ending.Coming from all eras of French cinema from Poetic Realism,New Wave and the 2000's,the ensemble cast each give impeccable performances. Hammering home the family rules, Danielle Darrieux gives a fiery performance as Mamy, whilst François Truffaut muses Fanny Ardant and Catherine Deneuve light each other up as Femme Fatale Pierrette,and the calculating,icy Gaby. Joining in the mystery, Emmanuelle Béart spins a kooky turn as Louise,while Isabelle Huppert superbly makes Augustine the outsider in the family,and Ludivine Sagnier gives a sexy kooky edge as Catherine,in the mystery of 8 women.

8 Women is a lightweight, stylish and funny murder mystery. But forget the murder. The movie really is a terrific excuse to have several of France's greatest actresses strut their stuff. We might as well get the plot out of the way quickly. There's a snowed-in country home, elegant looking and filled with elegant women. A man is found dead and one of the women in the house killed him. Who and why? In addition to the male corpse, there's the corpse's wife, his mother-in-law, his two daughters, his sister, his sister-in-law, the chambermaid and the housekeeper. In order, they are Catherine Deneuve, Danielle Darrieux, Virginie Ledoyan and Ludivine Sagnier, Fanny Ardant, Isabelle Huppert, Emmanuelle Beart and Firmine Richard. And as they tell us their stories, while the corpse stays chilled in an upstairs bedroom, they each sing French pop songs. It's all odd, funny and endearing. If they all look much like a selection of French bon bons, that's because the movie itself looks like a colorful candy box. Isabelle Huppert is one of my favorite actresses in any language, and it was good to see her play an amusing part for a change. I'm not sure how many other actresses of her caliber can glare and make it funny. Danielle Darrieux at 85 is a wonder. The sight of Fannie Ardant and Catherine Deneuve rolling around on the floor in a semi-Sapphic tussle was gripping. And those who want to have their illusions about tomboys shattered, just watch Sagnier as the youngest daughter here and then as the under-clothed bombshell she played the following year in Swimming Pool. Who is the killer? You won't find out from me, although that's scarcely the point of the movie. As Darrieux tells us in song, "There is no happy love." Still, murder can be a pleasure when it involves these eight actresses.