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8 ½ Women (1999)
Rate:
8
Viewed:
7/15
7/15:
If you aren't familiar with Peter Greenaway's films, then be forewarned that they are out-there.
It's been the case with 8 ½ Women as I knew what to expect after experiencing
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover. A scheme starts off
slowly and is then fully realized by the time the father
and son begin to acquire women, hence the title for creating a harem at their home in Geneva.
Their initial inspiration comes from watching Federico Fellini's 8½ at a movie theatre after Philip's wife of
many years had passed away. He laments to his son they never did much sexually during their marriage, so his new aim
with women is to make up for it. The son obliges him because he likes the idea a lot.
What starts out as something simple becomes a nightmare for them. Thinking money would take care of everything, the two
men start to realize women are complex creatures because they have needs. So, out of frustration, they want to be rid of them,
but the father dies at the end from having too much pleasure and the son is rejected by the most desired female and is stuck
with a mentally retarded amputee who can't physically walk out of the house. The following is the list of 8 ½ women and
their idiosyncracies:
1. Simato: A gambling addict
2. Giaconda: Only happy when she's pregnant and sells her babies for a living
3. Beryl: A horse thief who has a sexual relationship with a pig
4. Palmira: A pleasure-seeker through sex but only with the right partner
5. Mio: A Kabuki performer who doesn't feel feminine enough
6. Clothilde: Philip's housemaid who wants to feel special by participating in the harem
7. Griselda: A wannabe nun who dreams of being a saint
8. Kito: A Japanese translator (by the way, does she have any idiosyncracy?)
8.5. Giulietta: A mentally retarded amputee
Making the film unique is the juxtaposition of visual images. A new perspective emerges in terms of how each scene is shot, and
there's nothing like it before besides Peter Greenaway's stuff. Also, the script is intelligent, and the conversations are
interesting. I wasn't bored for a minute yet tried to figure out the direction which turns out to be the plot that I spoke of.
John Standing and Matthew Delamere are excellent as Philip and Storey Emmenthal, respectively, and they feed off each other well.
All in all, thanks to Peter Greenaway, 8 ½ Women is deep.