One of the wrost movies I have ever seen

Awesome Movie

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

There are few films that make you go through the entire gamut of emotions like 8 Women does. The movie deals with the murder of the only man of the household and the corresponding baton passing of allegations and suspicions that the 8 women of the family go through. Suspecting the killer to be one among them, they are all mistrustful of each other, and with each more eager than the other to get to the bottom, all sorts of hidden dirty linen comes forth. There are song and dance sequences distributed throughout the length each devoted to one lady. The movie leaves a lasting impression with the measured acting and direction that is imprinted in every frame. While the cast, all bring in superb performances that keeps you riveted, Fanny Ardant as Pierrette, the murdered man's sister is especially spectacular. Every movement of hers is a lesson in grace and she captures and makes her own every scene she is in. The songs are impressionable to say the least. Each is either intense or pure fun, the writing uniformly deep, and a school of thought in itself. While each revelation in the plot is more condemnable than the last, even the frequent twists and turns don't leave you tired because the serious nature of the film is disguised in a fresh and lively veneer. You find yourself both hating and caring for the characters as the secrets rush forth. There are some which could have been easily avoided especially the one that is disclosed in a sheepish manner in the conversation between the two young sisters. The sadness permeating in the film is reflective of the pensiveness of both the French film industry and the society in general, both of which seem to regard existence as an oner-some chore to go through rather than a joy, both achievable and desirable. Despite these flaws, I would give a big thumbs up to 8 women. Reserve your judgments and enjoy pure cinematic brilliance.

8 women find themselves trapped in a large mansion in the middle of a snow storm. The only male family member has been killed, and as the women try to discover who the murderer amongst them is, nasty family truths are revealed along the way.Now, being rather cynical by nature, I find farces and parodies quite difficult to stomach and am perhaps not the best person to ask an opinion about such a film as 'Huit femmes'. It admittedly took me a bit of time to find the funny side of the women bursting unexpectedly into song intermittently during the course of the film and I couldn't help finding the purposefully complicated narrative involving adultery, alcoholism, lesbianism, incest, just stupidly tedious rather than witty and sharp.Yet, with a star-studded cast who manage to portray their characters beyond their clichés (I was afraid, for example, that Virginie Ledoyen's Suzon was going to remain a prim and pretty faced 'goody two shoes' throughout the film), the film's self-conscious theatricality, and the clever twist of the film's dénouement, 'Huit femmes', was more enjoyable than I first expected (especially having seen the sickly pinks and pastel colours of the DVD case's front cover).You will either find 'Huit femmes' very entertaining or distinctly tiresome, it's all according to taste. However, for my part, I found it quite difficult to care by end.

An amazing cast. Deneuve, Ardant, Huppert, Beart are some of my favorite actresses from my days of braving wind and snow to sit in old smelly repertory theaters to watch classic (and not so classic) French films.I think that one has to think of this a playful farce, more along the lines of "Clue" than "Murder on the Orient Express". Everyone is having fun with the mystery but abiding by the rules - the ending is in fact consistent with the events and the clues and actually better than many mystery endings that I've seen. The addition of a musical number for each of the ladies is inspired and again is not meant to be serious as in "Singing in the rain" but more like "Pennies from heaven" or "Everyone says I love you" where it is more of a homage to the musical. For me it works very well and the actresses are surprisingly good singers.The entire atmosphere was that of poking fun at some of the themes that crop up in mysteries (incest, homosexuality), in a hammy theatre-sports karaoke kind of way. I especially loved the scene between Deneuve and Ardant (though I initially thought it was going to be Beart rolling on the floor). Anyway, I found myself enjoying it as much as the actors apparently did..

Strange film with amazing casting and the sign of a great director. Exploration of a delicate universe, fragile, dangerous, dark and egocentric, definition of woman and trial of feelings, gestures and illusions. Fruit of a play in which nuances are more important than colors, games of memories and intentions more relevant than reality, dreams and desires as cages of Bovaric scenes.French taste and sweet shadows in manner of Agatha Christie. Fragments of a ambiguous world and old fires in morning light. A murder, duties and fear, small sins as protective wall, the other as pray, fight with yourself and splendid collection of sentimental guns, traps, expectation and delicate hate. The essential advantage- the presence of woman's secrets in the skin of Ozon's art.A cruel, nostalgic and subtle film with seductive air of old melodramas, satirical traces and ash circles in snow.