'' Women'' is a 1999

comedy-drama film Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

written and directed by

Peter Greenaway Peter Greenaway, (born 5 April 1942) is a Welsh film director, screenwriter and artist. His films are noted for the distinct influence of Renaissance and Baroque painting, and Flemish painting in particular. Common traits in his films are the ...

and starring

John Standing Sir John Ronald Leon, 4th Baronet (born 16 August 1934) is an English actor and baronet who is known as John Standing. He is the stepson of John Clements. Early life Standing was born in London, the son of Kay Hammond (née Dorothy Katherin ...

, Matthew Delamere, and

Vivian Wu Vivian Wu ( Wu Junmei; ; born February 5, 1967) is a Chinese-American actress.Chen Nan ''China Daily'', 27 April 2007. Her big break came in 1987, appearing in the biographical film '' The Last Emperor''. She later went to starring in films '' ...

. An international co-production of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Germany, it was entered into the

1999 Cannes Film Festival The 52nd Cannes Film Festival was held from 12 to 23 May 1999. Canadian filmmaker, actor and author David Cronenberg was the Jury President. The Palme d'Or went to the French–Belgian film ''Rosetta'' by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. The festiv ...

Plot

After the death of his wife Amelia, wealthy businessman Philip Emmenthal (

) and his son Storey ( Matthew Delamere) open their own private

harem Harem (Persian: حرمسرا ''haramsarā'', ar, حَرِيمٌ ''ḥarīm'', "a sacred inviolable place; harem; female members of the family") refers to domestic spaces that are reserved for the women of the house in a Muslim family. A hare ...

in their family residence in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

. They get the idea while watching

Federico Fellini Federico Fellini (; 20 January 1920 – 31 October 1993) was an Italian film director and screenwriter known for his distinctive style, which blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. He is recognized as one of the greatest and most i ...

's '' '' and after Storey is "given" a woman, Simato ( Shizuka Inoh), to waive her

pachinko is a mechanical game originating in Japan that is used as an arcade game, and much more frequently for gambling. Pachinko fills a niche in Japanese gambling comparable to that of the slot machine in the West as a form of low-stakes, low-st ...

debts. They sign one-year contracts with eight (and a half) women to this effect. The women each have a gimmick (one is a

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...

, another a

kabuki is a classical form of Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily-stylised performances, the often-glamorous costumes worn by performers, and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers. Kabuki is thought to ...

performer, etc.). Philip soon becomes dominated by his favorite of the

concubine Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between a man and a woman in which the couple does not want, or cannot enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar but mutually exclusive. Concubi ...

s, Palmira (

Polly Walker Polly Alexandra Walker (born 19 May 1966) is an English actress. She has starred in the films '' Enchanted April'' (1991), ''Patriot Games'' (1992), ''Sliver'' (1993), ''Restoration'' (1995), '' The Gambler'' (1997), and '' Savage Messiah'' (20 ...

), who has no interest in Storey as a lover, despite what their contract might stipulate. Philip dies, the concubines' contracts expire, and Storey is left alone with Giulietta (the titular as an amputee) and of course the money and the houses. While the film deals with and graphically describes diverse sexual acts in conversation, the film does not feature any sex scenes as such, though it does contain several instances of male nudity.

Cast

Production

Toni Collette said Peter Greenaway chose her by accident for the role of Griselda. "I went in for another part and I had just had my head shaved and I had a Buddha hanging around my neck. Afterwards I thought, 'This is going to teach me to go to an audition looking like that'."

Reception

'' Women'' received mixed reviews. As of November 2019 it holds a 41% rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, and 36/100 (an average of critics' reviews) on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". The film opened at the box office at #50 with $92,000 and grossed $424,123 domestically.

References

External links

* * * * *
''8½ Women'' at petergreenaway.org.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:8 1 2 Women 1999 films 1999 comedy-drama films British comedy-drama films Dutch comedy-drama films Films set in Geneva German comedy-drama films 1990s English-language films English-language Dutch films English-language German films English-language Luxembourgian films 1990s Italian-language films 1990s Japanese-language films Latin-language films Films directed by Peter Greenaway Films shot in Luxembourg Films shot in Japan British independent films Lionsgate films Dutch independent films German independent films Erotic drama films 1999 independent films Luxembourgian comedy-drama films Luxembourgian independent films 1999 multilingual films British multilingual films Japan in non-Japanese culture German multilingual films 1990s British films 1990s German films