CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Borserie it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

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.

ferdinand1932 Greenaway's films pose as clever, erudite and innovative. Yet his style and grammar originate and remind viewers of films made in the World War 1 era of film-making: the frame composition, use of mid-shot, the static camera. It may be well to rub against mainstream movies with this style but it is not new. Perhaps like that other "innovator", TS Eliot, he draws more from the past than in looking forward as an authentic innovator would or could.Yet Greenaway's biggest failing is that he cannot write. His dialog and even plot structure is mechanical and logical but without the vitality of another dramatic logician, Brecht. Where this weakness is most apparent is in his humor, which is poised and logical, so the joke is dead before it's delivered. The result is tedium: if it's not funny, it has failed: ask a stand-up comedian to justify their act if the audience doesn't respond. Perhaps the well-read director could learn something from Freud on humor.Finally, like Woody Allen, Greenaway has manipulated his actors over the years to work like clones. They speak the lines with a bored, smug air like narcissistic adolescents.This film, despite its design and lighting, is meretricious.

daodao I am a big fan of Peter Greenaway movies - I respect the fact that his films are exercises in intellect and visual art, and he can take cinema to a higher plane. However, this movie is simply too difficult too watch. Father/son incest - initiated by the son - is just too disgusting a topic for even the most broadminded and dispassionate. Not that that one scene particularly dominates the movie. What dominates the movie is the pointlessness of why this new widower and his son get eight women (and a half) to share their mansion in Switzerland so that can all have emotionless sex, then eventually the women all start to leave and the leads are killed off. It's not so much silly as annoying -there must be some point to it all. Perhaps Greenaway will tell everyone one day. Stick to watching Draughtman's Contract, The Cook and Belly of an Architect.