8 Women

A comic detective musical set in a big house. That’s a brief and accurate description of Ozon’s 8 Women. Unlike many other musicals, the story here is not unimportant. On the contrary, this is a great detective story in the spirit of Agatha Christies works. It has great momentum and excellent rising suspense. The musical interludes are ingenious, albeit sometimes rather forcibly included. 8 Women relies mostly on the female acting performances. And the cast is probably the very best France can offer. P.S.: Absolutely has to be seen in the original French language version! (01/21/2007)

Wow! I don't know how much of an original spectacle 8 Women is, but it's definitely worth seeing. Eight women are locked in a luxurious mansion, the snow prevents them from leaving, and the only man lies on his stomach with a dagger in his back. François Ozon managed to make the absolute most of the subject matter. What should have been boring for half an hour of the film, in which one woman accuses another, constantly escalates to dizzying heights. Ozon had me wondering who the killer was until the final minutes. I was forming a certain theory throughout the entire film, but after ten minutes, I had to change it. Moreover, the final resolution settled me nicely, laughed in my face, and only confirmed that I’d seen too few movies not to be surprised. There is beauty in simplicity and the ending is the simplest you can imagine. But despite all that, I am still forced to remain a step below the peak in my rating. The reason I'm not going higher is because I was incredibly irritated by the musical numbers. Sure, it can be said that they suited the film, but they just annoyed me throughout the whole film. However, 8 Women is definitely a very high-quality and entertaining spectacle, in which you will appreciate the individual characters even more after watching it for the second time. But I do recognize that each woman had a reason... (02/12/2005)

Unforgettable performances with an excellent twist that, even if you know it, won't spoil the experience of watching all those ladies even on a second viewing. And a third, a fourth, a fifth... (06/11/2009)

Without the great acting performances and a relatively interesting execution, this film probably wouldn't impress as much. However, it was primarily about the actresses, and you enjoy watching them because they are simply great, and you don't really care much about what they are playing because the film itself is not that great, I mean in terms of the screenplay. But it has functional musical numbers, which I didn't expect. (09/03/2015)