Scathing without being scandalous, Women Talking keeps the gaze on the titular women and avoids any attention to the men who have victimized them. The women of a small enclosed religious community are the victims of repeated sexual assaults, while the men who commit these crimes go unpunished. A quorum of said women come together to decide if they will do nothing, stay and fight, or leave. There’s much at stake — to do nothing seems no longer bearable, to stay and fight means risking God’s vengeance for not turning the other cheek, and to leave means separation from all they have ever known.
It’s a taut 24 hour story that mostly takes place in one hayloft. In a place where women have no voice, this group finds strength in communion with one another. They don’t always agree on the right thing to do, but they are fiercely devoted to one another and to their God. Intermittent montage scenes break up the dialogue and offer glimpses of the idyllic and pastoral life this commune offers. These scenes give us moments of reprieve and also offer insight into how difficult leaving would be.
An unidentified narrator, who turns out to be one of the young girls in attendance, quickly shares the events that led up to the gathering. The conversation in the hayloft feels much like a courtroom drama, where they lay out the evidence and examine all sides. But the question isn’t if the perpetrators did it. Instead, they interrogate themselves and their beliefs about justice. They are past seeking validation from the men of the commune. They instead seek to be pure and right in God’s eyes. Will he understand that they can’t live under this bondage anymore? Does being righteous mean a women must submit to her oppressors? They wrestle with the heartbreak that perhaps they will be blocked from fellowship with God if they refuse to stay under these heinous circumstances.
Each of the women has dealt with their oppression with various coping mechanisms, offering a glimpse into the different ways trauma manifests. The one man allowed to attend is schoolteacher August, who takes the minutes since none of the women have been taught to write. While there have been films about women dealing with sexual assault since the beginning of cinema, Sarah Polley’s direction centers the women’s stories and doesn’t spend time on gratuitous recreations of their attacks.
At the end of the day, it’s not the outcome that matters as much as the process. A group of women hear each other out and have the right to think, speak, and exist without hindrance. When words fail, they can sing and find comfort in their combined voices crying out to God. — Lindsey Dunn (2026)
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