Evolution of a Woman
| Title: | Women Talking |
| Watchable: |  |
| Director: | Sarah Polley |
| Writer: | Sarah Polley |
| Lead Performances: | Rooney Mara (Ona), Claire Foy (Salome), Jessie Buckley (Mariche) |
The film Women Talking shows Autje saying "We didn't talk about our bodies. The absence of words to describe their experience becomes the central focus of the entire movie when Autje says "So when something like this happened there was no language for it," according to Polley. The entire film shows how frightening it is to lose the ability to express personal experiences through words. The violence shows up in every frame but the complete silence about it makes the most disturbing impact.
Words hold within them an incredible power that continues to fascinate me. The women needed to create their own words to describe their trauma because their society failed to recognize their experiences so they gathered in a hayloft to study forgiveness and freedom through academic methods. The camera frames the women in uncolored scenes which match the uncertain nature of their reality while possibly representing how their body truths get dismissed as "wild female imagination."The visual approach shows how color represents possibilities yet these women only start to understand its existence.
The actors show their psychological growth through their performances instead of using conventional acting techniques. The actors demonstrate their knowledge about how trauma affects the body because it produces mental problems which result in explosive anger outbursts. Through Foy's powerful acting Salome shows her decision to kill her attackers instead of showing them forgiveness. The character experiences anger while discovering their concealed abilities for the first time.
The film shows that people discuss what constitutes reality instead of focusing on whether to stay or leave. The discussion aims to establish which group possesses authority to establish what counts as factual reality. Ona asks if forced forgiveness counts as genuine forgiveness and the question remains unanswered because it has no solution. The film presents our inability to resolve philosophical questions about forgiveness through its refusal to create artificial solutions for unhealable wounds.
August uses his notebook to document his unclear experiences which produce unexpected emotional reactions. The statement seems unjust to me. Whishaw delivers his lines about the boys who are "like yearlings" with genuine sadness in his vocal delivery. He identifies the abuse pattern and wants to put an end to it while thinking love functions as an educational experience. Through his Coleridge quote he examines which emotional experiences between sympathy and love offer better learning potential than disputes and contests do.
The film maintains its fast tempo because Polley recognizes how women establish circular dialogue which links their individual talks to common human experiences. The discussions between the women develop their own distinctive pattern which shifts between practical discussions and deep philosophical conversations. The women face a dilemma about their relationship with heaven when they decide to leave their homes. The tracking system which shows divine locations remains inaccessible to refugee women. The situation creates both deep sadness and ridiculous moments because of its extremely sad circumstances.
The film shows these women as multi-dimensional characters who break free from the typical victim and hero roles. The women need to develop philosophical thinking because their situation demands it while they must use theological knowledge to survive and they need to develop strategic thinking because they have no other choice. The women create new worlds because their current environment has become uninhabitable thus starting the process of revolution. Women gather in a room to discuss while someone finally declares that these events actually occurred and they hold importance.
The film transforms wild female imagination into a powerful tool which women can use instead of dismissing it as nonsense. People need to develop new possibilities through their mental work in order to survive.
