8 FEMMES (2002) * You would think that a collection of the most celebrated contemporary French actresses, representing a cross-section of humanity including a prostitute, several lesbians, an adultrous socialite, etc....you would think that they'd leave few vices untouched, but the one that they would be able to avoid would be "boring." Instead it's the over-riding, if not only, sensation of the film. The performances from Catharine Deneuve, Emmanuelle Béart, Virginie Ledoyen, Danielle Darrieux and Fanny Ardant are uniformly awful. Isabelle Huppert shines only for brief moments. You could unquestionably witness greater panache and artistic sensibilities from any convergence of Parisian wash women. The script is that most horrible and French thing: pompous, overblown with metaphysical pretensions, billious banalities demanding bombastic representation...any audience half as sophisticated as this schlock pretends to be could only shake its head. It wouldn't even laugh. The pathetic idiocy is broken up at regular intervals by showtunes in the C. Jerome/Barry Manilow mold. These are actually a comparatively pleasant diversion, and it's the highlight of most of the performances, particularly Huppert and to a lesser extent Béart. If you ever write anything this bad, at least write in a dog character. An audience will think twice before turning on a dog.
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