The James Logan Courier

By Iona Childers, Courier Staff Writer

While some might expect this movie's 'one man, eight women' scenario to be a documentary on polygamy, the French movie, 8 Femmes, is actually a musical whodunit.

There are quite a few things that need to be cleared up, however. First of all, that one man has just been murdered at the beginning of the film. Second, those eight women are comprised of his wife, sister-in-law, mother-in-law, sister, two teenaged daughters, a housekeeper, and a chambermaid. One lonely man in the midst of eight either estrogen overflowing or deprived women. Do we even need to ask who or what did the poor guy in? Alas, it is not PMS, nor is his murder the result of a hot flash gone seriously out of control.

Set in a lavish French home in the middle of the holiday season, these eight women find themselves snowed in. With the discovery of the body of the man of the house, they go about trying to weed out the murderer. Each woman has her turn under the scrutiny of the others as they find that they cannot really trust one another. New discoveries are made at each twist and turn throughout the movie as scandals and secrets suddenly become public.

I found that the eight actresses: Fanny Ardant, Emmanuelle Béart, Danielle Darrieux, Catherine Deneuve, Isabelle Huppert, Virginie Ledoyen, Firmine Richard, and Ludivine Sagnier, where all quite brilliant in their respective roles. This movie was able to evoke many laughs all around. While I wouldn't consider myself to be a huge fan of musicals, I would definitely give the songs that were sung in this movie a perfect five star rating. All in all, I recommend this truly delightful French film to anyone and everyone!