DVD 103 IMDB 7.0

In Collection
#25

Comedy, Crime, Musical

Catherine Deneuve	Gaby
Isabelle Huppert	Augustine
Emmanuelle Béart	Louise
Fanny Ardant	Pierrette
Virginie Ledoyen	Suzon
Danielle Darrieux	Mamy
Ludivine Sagnier	Catherine
Firmine Richard	Mme. Chanel
Dominique Lamure	Marcel, the husband
Emmanuelle Beart

Director	François Ozon; Francois Ozon
Producer	Stéphane Célérier; Olivier Delbosc; Marc Missonnier
Writer	Marina de Van; François Ozon; Francois Ozon

A gaggle of mothers, wives, daughters, maids, and mistresses gather for a holiday homecoming at their country mansion -- and end up having to solve a murder-mystery -- in this musical-comic homage to studio-era "women's pictures" from acclaimed French director François Ozon . Partly inspired by George Cukor 's 1939 classic The Women , 8 Femmes stars Catherine Deneuve as Gaby, a high-society matron just returned to her country house to celebrate Christmas with her husband; mother Mamy ( Danielle Darrieux ); sister Augustine ( Isabelle Huppert ); and daughters Suzon ( Virginie Ledoyen ) and Catharine ( Ludivine Sagnier ). Not long after they all arrive, however, do they find the man of the house with a knife in his back, whereupon everyone becomes a suspect -- including maids Chanel ( Firmine Richard ) and Louise ( Emmanuelle Béart ). The mysterious arrival of Augustine's sister-in-law Pierrette ( Fanny Ardant ) only complicates matters, as the titular eight women find themselves snowed in by a fierce blizzard, forced to confront the matter of the lifeless husband -- and their long-standing secrets and resentments -- without the aid of the police. Following its immensely successful release in France in early 2002, 8 Women enjoyed much acclaim at the Berlin and Toronto Film Festivals. -- Michael Hastings