Pluskylang Great Film overall

Brainsbell The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

Derry Herrera Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

johnnyboyz Peter Greenaway's 1999 Cannes nominated film covers the exploits and rather grotesque misadventures of two people obsessed with the mistreatment of women; expanding their own sexual horizons and a specific film from the Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini from whence this piece draws on inspiration for its own title. It's a stark, confrontational piece; placing characters at the heart of it we do not especially like doing things we can not, hopefully, especially relate to; but is mostly engrossing and never especially alienating. For those that watch films throughout the world, whose initial port of call in criticising a film is to hone in on whether the leads we're asked to follow are at all likable, let everyone whom has seen 8 ½ Women help you save your time in saying that you will not take to this.8 ½ Women zeroes in on two males whom are father and son. They are rich; with the father, Philip (Standing), controlling the money; investments and where most of the time is spent in hopping from Japan based business enterprises and luxurious Swiss homes. His son is Storey (Delamere), and the film will cover their gradually ill advised hate filled attitudes towards women which runs in tandem with their gross methods in attempting to grieve. Their grieving is born out of the death of a woman whom was both their mother and wife, a loss which is supposedly representable of one half of the items the West are obsessed with, namely death, out of which many-a sexual escapades are born: the sex being the other half to that sum of the two obsessive items. The film studies the sordid existence of the two men, as apparent liberation from the ties of motherhood and marriage enable the two to explore new areas of sexual awareness and strive for some sort of state of happiness.The closest controversial British director Peter Greenaway comes to winking at the audience is when he has Philip sit in front of Fellini's 1963 film, entitled 8½, and has him ponder to himself whether directors make the films with the sorts of content they have for the sake of creativity or if it's all just a reason to indulge in one's fantasies. With 8 ½ Women, the film is about the exploration of fantasies; the fantasies two distinct male characters possess with their empowerment and ownership of an array of different women from different nations, as well as the disturbing sexual fondness for each other, all the result of this family member departing. The film will begin with Philip and his cohorts' taking over of a Japanese based gambling arcade, much to the distress of the previous owner; an early example of the father-son pairing implementing their power and control over those around them to their apparent pleasure and, you'd think, to the recipients overall disdain. The reaction to the death of their mother and wife, and the general mentality both men will adopt because of it, is unbeknownst to us when the two of them sit around an indoor pool and talk about certain things. The lapping water in the low lighting casting odd, distorted shadows over each of their faces suggesting an imbalanced persona or mentality – something that will become increasingly evident as they attempt to fill a void of sorts left by this passing.A further extension of both Philip and Storey's sense of elevation over most of whom that they're dealing with is highlighted in a case study with regards to how one's spare time is spent, and the leisurely activities they engage in. As hordes of faceless gamblers sit at one arm bandit-style game machines, the father and son combination are sitting watching Japanese theatre, specifically, a text further still featuring a character confused with their own sexuality, but a text which prompts debate between the two. This, as later on they're watching said Fellini film and talking expansively about it and of analogies to do with architecture and masculinity. Here, sequences systematic of both their apparent cultural superiority over most others play out. Given this and given the distinction between the father and son pairing with, supposedly, everybody else; the underlying sense of disturbance in these men's actions is only further highlighted when we realise they are not what the writer could so easily have made them: ie; these pig-headed idiots whom are barely able to string together a sentence. Instead, and placing them as spectators of two texts of a relatively highly artistic nature which requires insight and interaction, they're rendered of a well informed sort. Our realisation that their actions, mindsets and attitudes towards one another as well as the opposite sex are what they given how supposedly intelligent these two are only aids in getting across the effective sense of disturbance Greenaway is aiming for.Ultimately, the film will revolve around the happenings at a large manor house in Switzerland; somewhere Philip and Storey bring a number of women of varying 'types' so as to fill the many, empty rooms at the house. Here, women from all over the world are placed for their amusement and company; a scary haven in which the women exist to either please one of the male pairings' sexual appetites or dress up in age old maid uniforms so as to clean up. Later, a new arrival relegating one of Philip's prior favourites to nothing more than a courtyard dancer, still trussed up in whatever visually appealing costume she's apparently meant to be wearing, desperate for attention having effectively been 'replaced', in what is a sordid turn of events indeed. On another occasion, one of the other women becoming pregnant, the thought of a child being introduced to this sexist dystopia sees her banished from this place in that she's exported out of the country. The film is shrill, and as a documentation of these sordid characters and their ill-possessed attitudes, 8 ½ Women works as a disturbing slice of drama.

Dennis Littrell (Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon.)There's a kind of French farce/Marquis de Sade/Japanese porn feel to this self-indulgent romp from Brit auteur Peter Greenaway. It's kind of a "God, I'm bored and I've got so much money and what the heck let's turn the Geneva mansion into a bordello, a different woman in every room and Dad and I will have lots of fun and bond" thing. "I mean mom's gone now, Dad, and you never really got out and now it's time to live." So father and son go naked a lot with lots of babes who are also naked a lot.Matthew Delamere (Storey) is the son and John Standing (Philip) is the father. It's a bit creepy seeing them sharing the same bed naked. In fact it's a bit creepy seeing John Standing naked, period. But that's part of the Greenaway intent. Let's shock the bourgeoisie. It's such fun to do stuff that will make them squirm.They hissed at Cannes when this was shown (I understand; I wasn't there). It was first released in the Czech Republic, which says something, but I'm not sure what. It was banned in Malaysia--but that's pretty standard. The women are bizarre but, to be honest, intriguing. The story isn't much of a story. The rationale for suddenly taking on the life of the libertine is slight (Philip's wife dies) and a bit late in the coming. (And no pun intended.)The story starts in Tokyo with Storey helping Simato, a pachinko addict played by Annie Shizuka Inoh, avoid financial trouble in exchange for sexual favors. But never mind. As I said, the story doesn't matter. What matters is the outrageousness of the events (mostly sexual) and the beautiful sets. That's it. Most interesting thing in the film is Polly Walker who has both sex appeal and charisma. Most grotesque is that pig with its pinkish white skin so very human looking--and of course that was a sight joke and a comment upon humanity. But again, never mind.By the way, the 8 1/2 in the title is because Fellini's famous film somehow inspired Storey and Philip toward their debauchery.

JoeytheBrit OK, before you read any further, I should point out that I am not a fan of Greenaway or of the type of movie he represents, so if you're looking for yet another fawning contemplation of the 'genius' that is Peter Greenaway, then hit the back button now.There is something almost insultingly tiresome about Peter Greenaway's compulsion to shock in order to attract attention; he's been doing it for more than twenty years now, and watching his films – new and old – is a little like having one's forehead constantly prodded by the thumb of some warped history teacher who is determined to drill his perverse version of world events into your brain come what may. Greenaway feels he's got something to say, and he's keen to share it, but God forbid he should stray from the baffling, obscure manner of communicating that message that has become his trademark. I'm always suspicious of these artistic types who eschew traditional narrative techniques in favour of pretty – but asinine – images designed to confuse most viewers, and to obscure any message so that a myriad of interpretations can be derived from them. It's one of the biggest con tricks going: Peter Greenaway is one of its premier practitioners, and pseudo-intellectuals, those forlorn figures with nothing to say unless a critic or an artist has spoon-fed them their lines, are his fall-guys.The story revolves around wealthy, recently-bereaved Philip Emmenthal (John Standing) and his son Storey (an incredibly irritating Matthew Delamere), a very odd couple who sleep with each other to cope with their bereavement (my, how clever – and shocking). Storey takes his father back to Japan with him, where he manages a string of Pachinco palaces, and events that awaken Philip's latent sexual fantasies result in the two men installing eight-and-a-half women (one has had her legs amputated) in their Swiss mansion.The first problem to overcome when watching this flick is that the two main characters are such a pair of obnoxious prats. They conduct a series of bizarre conversations in which no two men – let alone father and son – would engage in real life, and which would mark them out as severely disturbed – but of course this is Greenaway-land, so nobody bats an eye. Not even when, while queueing to see Fellini's 8 ½ - to which this is a cockeyed homage - father and son discuss their incestuous tryst; or when, once in the cinema, the father embarks on a lengthy discourse about how he admired his own father's penis (Eiffel tower, Empire state, etc). The women are equally bizarre: a naked horseback rider who has a relationship with a pig, a debt-ridden, shaven-headed former nun, a Pachinco-addicted Japanese girl, a remote geisha-type, a perpetually pregnant mercenary, etc. They're all suitably weird, but also curiously boring – even though most of them are in some state of nudity much of the time. Only Polly Walker's Palmira is a believable – and curiously sympathetic, given her background – character, and earns the best line in the movie. "Men love women, women love children, and children love hamsters. A one-way slide. There is little going back the other way," she declares while lying naked on a sun-lounger. Each woman represents some aspect of men's fantasies/fetishes and, as such, their growing power over the two men is quite subtly developed, yet there is no sense of come-uppance for father and son here, suggesting the 'misogynist' label often attached to Greenaway isn't totally undeserved. The women are all too aware of their power, and know just when to use it; by the end of the film they have all taken something from the men while leaving them emotionally and morally unchanged. There is no character arc here – which doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing – but the absence of such leaves this story feeling woefully flat. In its favour, the film does have some witty interplay between the diverse set of characters at times, but these nuggets are too far apart, stranded between an endless parade of dull, self-indulgent, and pretentious posturing. Although not as visually ravishing as much of Greenaway's work, he does make effective use of extreme close-ups that give the eye something to dwell on long after the brain has seized up. 8 ½ Women has been described as one of Greenaway's more accessible films, and it's true, it is – which should be a strong enough incentive for most people to steer clear of any of his other works. It is, by Greenaway's standards, a comedy, but not the kind that contains laughs – or even wry smiles. No, it's that unpleasant, superior, mocking kind – the kind those pseudo-intellectuals love to love, once it's been explained to them.

ChrisBagley Movies have put me to sleep before, but no movie has ever done that twice, so it took me three sittings actually to finish it. The dialog was bad. Women spoke stiltedly and the men were caricatures. And two of the supposedly Japanese women looked Chinese, had Chinese names and spoke with clearly Chinese accents. I'm still trying to figure out why the Emmenthal men were sexually wrapped up with each other. 10 minus 8 1/2 equals a tough choice: Do I give this movie a rating of one? or two?Movies have put me to sleep before, but no movie has ever done that twice, so it took me three sittings actually to finish it. The dialog was bad. Women spoke stiltedly and the men were caricatures. And two of the supposedly Japanese women looked Chinese, had Chinese names and spoke with clearly Chinese accents. I'm still trying to figure out why the Emmenthal men were sexually wrapped up with each other. 10 minus 8 1/2 equals a tough choice: Do I give this movie a rating of one? or two?