Women Talking Parent Guide

There is one thing that all the women of a remote Mennonite colony have in common: rape. For years, a group of men drugged and violated them as they slept. They awoke in the morning with fading memories and blood and bruises on their thighs. Gaslit by their religious leaders, the women have been accused of overactive imaginations or of sexual congress with ghosts or Satan.

Now the women have caught the abusers, but their leaders are bailing them out of jail and give the victims two days to respond to an ultimatum: forgive the rapists or be excommunicated from the colony and forever barred from the kingdom of Heaven.

Faced with this choice, the women hold their own vote and select a group to decide which of two paths they will take: leave the colony of their own volition or stay and fight. The women who meet to discuss the options are a varied lot, despite the apparent sameness of their lives and attire. Salome (Claire Foy) is consumed with rage over her own assault and the rape of her four-year-old daughter and yearns for vengeance. Ona (Rooney Mara), is bright, curious about the wider world, unmarried, and pregnant with her attacker’s child. Mariche (Jessie Buckley) is furious with the husband who beats her and her children but is terrified to lose the security and familiarity of her home. Mejal (Michelle McLeod) has acquired a smoking habit to control the anxiety and panic attacks that consume her. Bringing wisdom, faith and perspective to the group are Agata (Judith Ivey) and Greta (Sheila McCarthy), older women who have their own grief and guilt to confront.

There is no denying that Women Talking is a difficult film to watch. After all, this is a movie about rape and although no assaults take place on screen, flashbacks show women coping with the aftermath of their own violations and the abuse of their children. This is a gut-wrenching movie that will make you weep and seethe in equal measure. (If you have a history of trauma, please consider your comfort level with distressing material before you choose to watch the movie.)

Women Talking also an intensely thoughtful film. These remarkable women are largely illiterate but they are not afraid to delve deeply into the issues that shape their lives. They discuss the kind of society they want to live in, the protections they want for their children, their own complicity in perpetuating the violence of their community, and their need to support one another without judging. They are also women of faith, and their convictions are a guiding light in their decision-making. Far from mindless followers, these women are full of questions about the nature of forgiveness, the effectiveness of forced forgiveness, and God’s love, vengeance and omnipotence.

Fortunately, the cast is up to the challenge of bringing their complex characters to life. All of the gifted actors bring their characters to life, with every shade of emotion – pain, grief, scalding rage, serenity, faith – visible on screen. The real weakness of the movie is that its script isn’t as good as its cast. The women are believable, but their dialogue is sometimes clunky, occasionally seeming to have emerged from a workshop in a women’s studies class. This is a common weakness of issue-based films and although I wish the script were better, the movie is still well worth watching.

Women Talking is a real-life horror movie, made all the more frightening because it’s based on real events. Hopefully, this film will get both men and women talking about how to create a world that offers safety, respect, dignity, and equality for all, regardless of gender.