8 Women

Pros: A stylish and funny showcase for some of France's best actresses.

Cons: The shifts in tone may aggravate some.

The Bottom Line: If you appreciate campy fun 8 Women is worth seeing. The set design, costume and acting are all top-notch.

Review: Is it possible to have an estrogen contact high? This weekend I saw the intoxicating French movie 8 Women directed by François Ozon. Watching this homage / parody of Hollywood glamour was like downing technicolour jell-o shots...

Pros: Funny, fast-paced, and original

Cons: May be too unconventional for some

The Bottom Line: "8 Women" is a hilarious comedy and a fairly convoluted mystery movie. If you like foreign film, this one is a treat.

Review: Quality French cinema is like O'Henry's short stories; rarely, if ever, will a viewer be able to predict what story will be told; when it seems like everything has already been tried and thoroughly exploited, and novelty is presented in movies only by...

Pros: 8 great French actresses, one delicious film.

Cons: Very French, if you don't like that kind of thing. Um... too short!

The Bottom Line: 8 WOMEN is a classic entertainment done up in French style... with a serious undercurrent. It's pretty darn great.

Review: Those who know me as a movie-lover know how eagerly I’ve been awaiting the release of François Ozon’s film 8 WOMEN. After finding out about it in FILM COMMENT this past spring, my anticipation for the film has grown steadily. Of course, as long...

Pros: fun, lively story; characters; songs

Cons: well, it's pretty silly!

The Bottom Line: A great choice for Christmas if you just want to laugh!

Review: Let me tell you a little Christmas story, this time with eight French women of varying ages, attitudes and murder-ability. It so happens that one overburdened man, only seen rarely and in shadow, has a houseful of greedy, oversexed women, except for the ...

Pros: The cast! The costumes! The songs! The fun! The saddness!

Cons: A series of in-jokes. Not everybody will get all of them. I sure didn't.

The Bottom Line: The fabulous French actresses, beautiful costumes, and cheeky tone make this one to watch.

Review: In glancing over discussions of Francois Ozon's new film 8 Women (or 8 Femmes if you're the sort who needs proper translations), one important thing becomes clear — Ozon's originality here comes specifically from his absence of...

Pros: A Campy, Genre-Bending Flick from Francois Ozon with A Great Cast of French Actresses.

Cons: The Genre-Bending & Musical Interludes Will Annoy Some.

The Bottom Line: Like Mystery, Suspense, Comedy, Drama, & Zinging? Then You Filthy Americans, You'll Love 8 Femmes or You'll Zmell My Zmelly Pit. (4.5 out of 5)

Review: One of the most renowned and celebrated filmmakers in France today, Francois Ozon is a filmmaker that loves to tell dark stories filled with ambiguity and psychological textures that often compared him to Alfred Hitchcock. With acclaimed films like ...

Pros: It's a French comedy

Cons: The music bits will be over you head if you don't know French

The Bottom Line: A great comedy, maybe one of the best in its genre this year

Review: My first movie epinion...

So far the year 2002 looks like all other years. I mean, every year you're expecting something really SPECIAL to come. Every January and February you're being told to wait till May; so you patiently wait for the first...

Pros: Excellent cast, good photography, good acting.

Cons: This is a stage play from about 45 years ago, and you can tell.

The Bottom Line: A very cute old fashioned mystery (done in French with subtitles). Not very intellectual but very entertaining.

Review: 8 WOMEN (8 Femmes) is a movie version of what was obviously a stage play (written by Robert Thomas at least 45 years ago). Some stage plays transported to the screen have added some new locations or crowd scenes, but not this. As you watch it you are...

Pros: 8 French A-List Actresses, constant surprises, many funny moments

Cons: too busy for character development; murder-mystery and comedy-musical work against eachother

The Bottom Line: If you're a fan of French cinema, as well as musicals, I recommend this film for the fun of it.

Review: I'm a big fan of French cinema, and also enjoy murder-mysteries and musicals. Combining them all with a cast that includes Catherine Deneuve, Fanny Ardent, and Isabelle Hupert seemed like a winning idea.

The film opens with Catherine Deneuve's...

Pros: Lots of happy, cheerful music. Good set and costumes. Snob appeal for being foreign.

Cons: Pretty mindless and soap opera-y. Easy to make fun of.

The Bottom Line: If you're looking for a mindless, easy to make fun of girls-night-out movie, this is for you. But if you're seeking a remotely intelligent movie... look elsewhere.

Review: Have you ever seen day soap operas? The really bad ones with millions of plot twists? Mexican soap operas (that's almost a genre to itself!)? Did you like them? Do you like characters who burst into song for no apparent reason? Do you want a...