re:mote voices

Title: 8 ½ Women
Cast: John Standing, Matthew Delamere, Vivian Wu, Annie Shizuka Inoh, Barbara Sarafian, Kirina Mano, Toni Collette, Amanda Plummer, Natacha Amal, Manna Fujiwara, Polly Walker
Director: Peter Greenaway

storey emmenthal is working in kyoto when he gets a phone call from his father philip, his mother has died and his father is quite upset. returning to geneva storey finds his relationship with his dad changed now that his mum is dead. persuading his dad that he needs to get out storey and philip go to see the fellini film 8 women. which is where philip becomes inspired with his son's encouragement to start building his own collection of women.

storey has found himself in an arrangement with a japanese woman, who is in so much debt in the pachinko parlour that he is responsible for. this works as the template for the set up that follows, as well as making her the first of the women. at each step they find a woman who is in a situation - debt to the bank, stealing a horse, making too many babies - then offers them a solution and a deal. so that before they know it they have 8 and a half women living in their swiss mansion.

of course there is a certain madness to such a plan anyway, but the fact that each woman has her own agenda also makes things more complicated. so just as quickly as the pair have their new harem, they also have a whole new set of problems. just as things are looking perfect it all falls apart.

peter greenaway is reknowned for his arty approach to film. in some ways he acknowledges his intent with philip's comment about how many film makers are just bringing their fantasies to life. which to some degree one gets the impression this is, as well as being a tribute/remix to fellini's 8 women. in comparison to something like pillow book, greenway is reasonably restrained with 8 1/2 women, there are scene headers and overlayed text and a few visual tricks here and there. but those are much more understated, almost token gestures, and several of the blocks of text aren't really readable anyway. which pretty much leaves the film and the tongue in cheek that must be involved in its realization. with the result that there is a definite sense of humour involved with 8 1/2 women, and there are several parts that i definitely found amusing.

while 8 1/2 women is initially slow, i did find that in the end i quite enjoyed it.