8 Women

8 Women (2002) takes place in a snowbound country house in the 1950s. The man of the house is found stabbed in the back in his bed. The phone line is cut, the snow has closed the road, and there are eight women in the house: his wife, his two daughters, his mother in law, his sister in law, his sister and two servants. One of them did it. François Ozon turns the whodunnit into a musical. Each woman stops at some point and sings, and the songs are French pop of the period. The structure comes from a stage play, and Ozon deliberately keeps it artificial: the colours are heightened and the set is openly a set. The real event is the cast. Catherine Deneuve, Isabelle Huppert, Fanny Ardant, Emmanuelle Béart, Danielle Darrieux, Virginie Ledoyen, Ludivine Sagnier and Firmine Richard. Eight actresses from different generations of French cinema together; Darrieux had been working since the thirties. It played in Berlin, where all eight shared the Silver Bear for Best Actress. It runs 111 minutes. Good for: musical crossed with mystery, the stars of French cinema, and formal play. Less good for: the songs stop the story and the genre shifts feel forced to some viewers. The murder puzzle is not taken seriously; the solution runs on gesture rather than logic.