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What happens when a renowned French director brings together some of France's greatest living actresses?

8 Women (8 Femmes)

This genre-busting screwball comedy/musical/crime movie is set in an isolated mansion in the snowy countryside of 1950s France. A family is gathered for the holiday season, when their patriarch is found murdered.

The killer can only be one of the eight women closest to the man of the house: wife, sister-in-law, mother-in-law, chambermaid, housekeeper or one of his two daughters. To make matters worse, a surprise visit from the victim's sister sends the household into a frenzy as suspicions fly and old rivalries and secrets come to the fore.

Musical Interludes

The film includes some great musical interludes and showcases a staggering cast of famous French female leads, which reads like a who’s who of French cinema’s leading ladies of the last fifty years: Catherine Deneuve, Isabelle Huppert, Emmanuelle Beart, Fanny Ardant, Virginie Ledoyen, Danielle Darrieux, Firmine Richard and Ludivine Sagnier star in a great script, co-written - with Marina de Van - by the films director, Francois Ozon.

Ozon, the man behind this extraordinary feature – director of Under the Sand and Water Drops on Burning Rocks - has assembled an impressive cast to perform a loose adaptation of Robert Thomas' country house murder mystery, which was originally a stage production.

Marcel’s eldest daughter Suzon - played with dash by Virginie Ledoyen – (the star of the The Beach and A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries) returns home from her college for the holidays from college and soon becomes embroiled in her own private investigation – while musical interludes and hidden agendas abound – supplied by the rest of the stellar cast.

Secrets

As the plot unfolds, we learn that each and every one of the titular women appears to hide a secret. Importantly each had their opportunity and – in the finest tradition of the whodunit they each apparently had a motive to do away with the victim – even his own daughters.

The victims’ wife Gaby is played by screen legend Catherine Deneuve - (of Belle de Jour, Repulsion, The Musketeer and Dancer in the Dark fame, amongst countless others). The new housekeeper Louise is played by the always glamorous Emmanuelle Beart (of Les Destinees, La Buche, Un Coeur En Hiver , Nelly & Monsieur Arnaud and Manon De Source). Beart is to be seen next in Marie et Julien). Gaby's rather bad tempered sister Augustine – played by Isabelle Huppert – (of Merci Pour Le Chocolat and Les Destinees) is on the scene to spread further dissent.

Cluedo-Lite?

Other character’s thrown into the 'Cludeo'-lite style plot (but who cares when the film and the cast all looks this great?) are: Gaby’s mother “Mamy” – played by Danielle Darrieux - (of Tomorrow's Another Day and Emilie est Partie), her other daughter Catherine - Ludivine Sagnier – (from My Wife is an Actress and Children's Play), the other housekeeper Chanel - Firmine Richard – (of One 4 All, Riches and Belles et Cruelles), and finally, Marcel's estranged sister Pierette – played by Fanny Ardent – ( previously seen in Change-Moi ma Vie and No News From God).

This is a film that’s hard not to love. The colour of the film is reminiscent of Deneuve’s earlier picture The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and it has the same timeless, somewhat stagey feel. Though the plot and the songs are slight and unmemorable in themselves the presence of so many screen heavyweights will delight fans of - in particular French - film.

A must for anyone with even a passing interest in the rich designs of 1950s Sirk, musicals, whodunnits, European cinema since the French New Wave movement and who’s prepared to leave their cynical head behind for a couple of hours. A joy.

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