Women Talking (film)

Women Talking
Theatrical release poster
Directed bySarah Polley
Screenplay bySarah Polley
Based onWomen Talking
by Miriam Toews
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyLuc Montpellier
Edited by
Music byHildur Guðnadóttir
Production
companies
Distributed byUnited Artists Releasing
Release dates
  • September 2, 2022 (2022-09-02) (Telluride)
  • December 23, 2022 (2022-12-23) (United States)
Running time
104 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States[1]
LanguageEnglish
Budget$20 million
Box office$9.3 million[2][3]

Women Talking is a 2022 American drama film written and directed by Sarah Polley. Based on the 2018 novel by Miriam Toews, itself inspired by the gas-facilitated rapes that occurred at the Manitoba Colony, a remote and isolated Mennonite community in Bolivia,[4] the film follows a group of American Mennonite women who discuss their future, following their discovery of the men's history of raping the colony's women. It features an ensemble cast that includes Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, Judith Ivey, Ben Whishaw, and Frances McDormand, who also served as a producer on the film. It is the last film to be released by United Artists Releasing, before it was folded into MGM on March 4, 2023.[5]

Women Talking premiered at the 49th Telluride Film Festival on September 2, 2022, and was released in the United States via select theaters on December 23, 2022, before a wide release on January 27, 2023, by United Artists Releasing.[6][7] The film received positive reviews from critics, who lauded Polley's screenplay and direction, the performances of the cast (particularly of Foy, Buckley, and Whishaw) and score but underperformed at the box-office grossing $9.3 million against a $20 million budget. It was named one of the top ten films of 2022 by the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute,[8] won Best Adapted Screenplay at the 28th Critics' Choice Awards, 75th Writers Guild of America Awards, and the 95th Academy Awards, where it was also nominated for Best Picture.[9][10]

  1. ^ a b "Women Talking (15)". BBFC. Archived from the original on January 23, 2023. Retrieved January 24, 2023. Women Talking is a drama in which a group of women debate whether they should leave an abusive religious commune.
  2. ^ "Women Talking (2022)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved March 17, 2023.
  3. ^ "Women Talking (2022)". The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC. Retrieved March 17, 2023.
  4. ^ Onstad, Katrina (August 18, 2018). "Miriam Toews: 'I needed to write about these women. I could have been one of them'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on December 14, 2022. Retrieved August 21, 2022.
  5. ^ McClintock, Pamela (March 4, 2023). "Box Office: 'Creed III' Wins Title with Series-Best $51M Opening". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on March 4, 2023. Retrieved March 4, 2023. Amazon protected its newfound theatrical apparatus by folding United Artists Releasing into MGM.
  6. ^ Simonpillai, Radheyan (July 28, 2022). "TIFF premieres include Women Talking, No Bears and Black Ice". Now Magazine. Archived from the original on August 4, 2022. Retrieved July 28, 2022.
  7. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (November 17, 2022). "Sarah Polley's 'Women Talking' Heads To Christmas Corridor". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on November 23, 2022. Retrieved November 18, 2022.
  8. ^ "National Board of Review Announces 2022 Award Winners". December 8, 2022. Archived from the original on December 9, 2022. Retrieved December 8, 2022.
  9. ^ "10 Best Indie Films of the 2020s (So Far)". Comic Book Resources. July 24, 2023.
  10. ^ "The 10 Best Drama Movies of the 2020s So Far, Ranked". Collider. August 24, 2023.