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CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY FORUM VOL. 5 

Film Review: Women Talking by Sarah Polley 

Taryn Bates 

Department of Sociology 

California State University, Los Angeles 

 

The title Women Talking initially comes off as passive. 

However, the women featured in this story are actually working 

to put words into action after a shocking revelation about the 

strange and violating experiences all female-bodied residents of 

an isolated Mennonite community have been waking up to for 

years. When seeking explanations, the male elders of the colony 

gaslight the women by attributing the assaults to Satan, ghosts, 

bids for attention, or hysterical female imagination. Finally, one 

of the men is caught in the act and gives up the names of the other 

perpetrators while revealing the use of cow tranquilizer to pull off 

the attacks. During the two days while the male perpetrators are 

jailed in the city, the women are left behind at the colony. They 

are told to use this time to forgive the attackers or be banished 

from the colony. Their banishment also means being barred from 

heaven due to their unforgiveness. Instead, the women decisively 

use this time to host a referendum, which leads to talking out a tie 

between choosing to stay and fighting or leaving the colony.  

Canadian director (and former child actor) Sarah Polley 

won the Academy Award, Critics’ Choice Award, and Writers 

Guild of America Award for “Best Adapted Screenplay” for her 

screen adaption of Women Talking (2022) based on the 2018 novel 

of the same name by award-winning Canadian writer Miriam 

Toews. The writing motivation for Toews was partly inspired by 

actual events in a Bolivian Mennonite colony paired with the 

questioning that had built up during her time growing up in a 

Canadian Mennonite colony. While the sexual assault did not 

happen in her own colony, the circumstances of patriarchal power 

dynamics could have easily led to such a situation. 

Women Talking is sociologically relevant because the 

entire story hinges on women who have essentially been trapped 

in an extreme societal construct of a religious colony coming to 

terms with the reality of the power dynamics of abuse that they 

had all been subjected to. The narrator of the film specifically 

notes that this restrictive community does not talk about women's 



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CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY FORUM VOL. 5 

bodies, so there is no language for violation which leaves a 

horrific gaping silence that erases any chance of empowerment. 

Additionally, one of the women is considered a spinster but is 

carrying a child as a byproduct of the sexual assaults. At one point, 

she articulates that she chooses to remain single to be true to 

herself – a surprising act of autonomy and empowerment for a 

woman raised under strong indoctrination. The takeaway implied 

is that if the parameters of the societally constructed concept of 

being a spouse do not allow you to be yourself, then do not settle 

for betraying your true self. 

The idea of forced forgiveness not being true forgiveness 

is a central theme throughout the film. This includes the men 

threatening the women with banishment and eternal damnation if 

they are not ready to forgive the perpetrators and live alongside 

them. Additionally, one of the women has been subjected to 

domestic abuse but all the while was advised by the elders, 

including the matriarchs, to forgive her husband. Her bitterness, 

fear, and resignation act as foil to the other women throughout the 

heated discussions. Another theme is power, with one woman 

specifying that the men want power and therefore need people to 

have power over, in this case the women. This also speaks to the 

internalized misogyny of patriarchal culture that enlists women in 

keeping their fellow women down and subservient.  

When the woman who has been subjected to domestic 

abuse wonders if the imprisoned men might not even be guilty, 

one of the other women proposes the idea that the conditions set 

up by the men of the colony led to the circumstances perpetuated 

by the men. In that case, everyone in the colony are victims of the 

system. Later on, concerns about the logistics of choosing 

departure separating them from the boys leads to conversation 

over "not all men" being evil. They also discuss at what point in 

time do boys become men who become perpetrators. One of the 

women has a panic attack during this debate over whether males 

can join their exodus, which leads to her sister accusing this 

behavior of being attention seeking. The woman explains that the 

gaslighting making her disbelieve her own self is personally the 

worst part for her to wrestle with from the trauma.  

I appreciate the decision made by director Sarah Polley to 

purposefully not show any of the men's faces. Any scenes that 



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CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY FORUM VOL. 5 

include the perpetrators and enabling adult males of the colony are 

framed in ways that leave the men undistinguishable. The women 

and their passion are the main focus here. However, one of the 

other qualms I had with the film was trouble keeping track of who 

everyone was until about halfway through. The majority of the 

screentime is focused on eight women from two households. It 

was confusing figuring out the relationships between the two elder 

matriarchs, the four middle aged women, and the two teenagers.  

The movie also includes a transgendered character: 

Melvin played by nonbinary actor August Winter. The narrator 

explains it was later on that Melvin reveals it was not the sexual 

assault that "turned" him into a man, but that this led to undeniable 

proof that he had never felt like a woman. After being impregnated 

(possibly by their own brother) and suffering a miscarriage of the 

baby due to malformations, the trauma leads Melvin to refuse to 

speak with anyone but the children. This bond with the children 

gave Melvin the role of watching over them while the women 

figure things out. Unfortunately, Melvin is deadnamed multiple 

times. Near the end of the film, one of the matriarch elders finally 

calls Melvin by his chosen name and he speaks to her, thanking 

her for saying his name. As much as I disliked the constant 

deadnaming, this moment seemed to be a way to show how 

community accepting and honoring a person's chosen name that 

aligns with their gender identity is important. 

Women Talking certainly tackles a heavy topic with rage 

and righteous indignation. We do not get to see the group settled 

post-departure. Though I prefer explicit closure, having one of the 

teenaged girls as the narrator for this film adaptation helps it feel 

like this ending is one of hope. The story overall is empowering 

and I highly recommend watching it. However, if any of the 

content warnings below are of personal concern, make sure to be 

in the right head space to experience. As a woman who was raised 

under fundamentalism (though not in a colony), I personally had 

an intense watching experience. Women Talking is a passionate 

and raw depiction of women advocating for safety and body 

autonomy while also recoiling from realizing they have been 

living in a barely veiled toxic patriarchy. 

 



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CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY FORUM VOL. 5 

Content Warning: Mentions of Sexual Assault, Miscarriage, 

Suicide, Deadnaming, Domestic Violence. Blood (but not really 

gore) is featured throughout the film. While no act of sexual 

assault is depicted on screen, the whole film revolves around 

conversations on how to handle the truth of violating sexual 

assaults and subsequent actions to be taken.  

 

REFERENCES 

Polley, Sarah. 2022. Women Talking. Los Angeles, CA: Orion 

Pictures; Plan B Entertainment; Hear/Say Productions. 


