Film

WOMEN TALKING

Women Talking is Sarah Polley's poignant adaptation of Miriam Toews' novel about sexual assault in a Mennonite colony.
Women Talking tells the all-too-real story of a group of women in a Mennonite colony dealing with continued sexual and physical abuse at the hands of their husbands, brothers, and male neighbours (specifically, their being drugged, raped, and gaslit). When the men temporarily leave the colony, the women take advantage of their absence and gather in a hayloft to discuss their options: do nothing, stay and fight, or leave. All who are present — ranging in age from young children to seniors — put forth their own testimonies, perspectives, and answers to the problem. As the women discuss what it means to leave and what it must entail to stay and fight, it becomes clear that no solution is as straight-forward as it initially seems. Emotion and tension run high as the women try to work fervently together to figure out the proper course of action before the men return.