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8½ Women (1999)
Director: Peter Greenaway
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
A Swiss businessman, rich with property in Japan, is so distraught with grief at his wife's death that his grown son tries to console him by setting up a harem of women, inspired by Fellini's 8∏. (The half-woman introduced into their private bordello, incidentally, is not mutilated but a dwarf - so much for taste!) Cue various liaisons, experiments and emotional intrigues, as Peter Greenaway's lacklustre narrative meanders towards its predictable and banal conclusion. The film's the usual collage of lists, perverse conceits, strange images, arcane allusions and nudity, but far more lazily assembled than previously. The writing is without wit, the pacing clumsy, the 'surrealism' forced and clumsy, the whole pretty pointless. And only Polly Walker gives anything approaching a decent performance.Author: GA
Cast & crew
Director: Peter Greenaway
Producer: Kees Kasander
Cast: John Standing, Matthew Delamere, Vivian Wu, Shizuka Inoh, Barbara Sarafian, Kirina Mano, Toni Collette, Amanda Plummer, Natacha Amal, Manna Fujiwara, Polly Walker full cast
Duration: 120 mins
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