8 Women

There are times when you just have to shrug your shoulders and say "not really my cup of tea" and this is surely one of them.

Fans of musicals, Agathe Christie whodunnits, theatrical dialogue and Amelie-style Gallic quirkiness will no doubt be delighted by François Ozon's film, but I am none of these. (I have however been a fan of Ozon's later output, such as Swimming Pool and 5x2. )

We ended up watching most of the second half on fast forward. It began with just the musical numbers then extended to the wider action once we realised that most of the limited pleasure we were able to derive from 8 Femmes was already fully present in its opening scenes. The bright, almost glowing cinematography was particularly stunning, but the impact of this too wore off quite quickly.

The other night we re-watched the final third of another movie with a French Director, The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. If there's one key difference between Gondry's film and Ozon's, it is that the former makes you think. Now you can argue that 8 Femmes sets out to be pure entertainment for movie buffs, but some kind of intellectual content always helps to make "not my cup of tea"-type entertainment bearable. (For instance, V professes not to like films "with lots of shooting", but throughly enjoys Takeshi Kitano's yakuza sagas.)