8½ Women

{{Infobox film

| name = {{frac|8|1|2}} Women

| image = Eighthalfwomen.jpg

| alt =

| caption = Theatrical release poster

| director = Peter Greenaway

| producer = Kees Kasander

| writer = Peter Greenaway

| starring = {{Plainlist|

John Standing
Matthew Delamere
Vivian Wu
Shizuka Inoh
Barbara Sarafian
Kirina Mano
Manna Fujiwara
Toni Collette
Amanda Plummer
Natacha Amal
Polly Walker}}

| music = Frank Loesser
Giuseppe Verdi

| cinematography = Reinier van Brummelen
Sacha Vierny

| editing = Elmer Leupen

| studio = Movie Masters

| distributor = {{Plainlist|

Pathé Distribution (United Kingdom)
United International Pictures (Benelux)
absolut MEDIEN (Germany)

}}

| released = {{Film date|df=y|1999|05|22|Cannes|1999|12|10|United Kingdom|2000|01|06|Netherlands|2000|05|26|United States}}

| runtime = 118 minutes

| country = United Kingdom
Netherlands
Luxembourg
Germany

| language = English
Italian
Japanese
Latin

| budget =

| gross = $424,123

}}

{{frac|8|1|2}} Women is a 1999 comedy-drama film written and directed by Peter Greenaway and starring John Standing, Matthew Delamere, and Vivian Wu. An international co-production of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Germany, it was entered into the 1999 Cannes Film Festival.{{cite web | url=http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/5335/year/1999.html | title=Festival de Cannes: 8½ Women | access-date=2009-10-04| work=festival-cannes.com}}

Plot

After the death of his wife Amelia, wealthy businessman Philip Emmenthal and his son Storey open their own private harem in their family residence in Geneva. They get the idea while watching Federico Fellini's 8½ and after Storey is "given" a woman, Simato, to waive her pachinko debts. They sign one-year contracts with eight (and a half) women to this effect.

The women each have a gimmick (one is a nun, another a kabuki performer, etc.). Philip soon becomes dominated by his favorite of the concubines, Palmira, who has no interest in Storey as a lover, despite what their contract might stipulate. Philip dies, the concubines' contracts expire, and Storey is left alone with Giulietta (the titular {{nowrap|"{{1/2}}"}} as an amputee) and of course the money and the houses.

= Note =

While the film deals with and graphically describes diverse sexual acts in conversation, the film does not feature any sex scenes as such, though it does contain several instances of male and female nudity.{{cite web |last1=Ebert |first1=Roger |title=8½ Women |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/8-12-women-2000 |website=Rogerebert.com |access-date=29 December 2020 |date=9 June 2000}}

Cast

{{castlist|

John Standing as Philip Emmenthal
Matthew Delamere as Storey Emmenthal
Vivian Wu as Kita
Shizuka Inoh as Simato
Toni Collette as Griselda / Sister Concordia
Amanda Plummer as Beryl
Natacha Amal as Giaconda
Barbara Sarafian as Clothilde
{{ill|Kirina Mano|ja|真野きりな}} as Mio
Manna Fujiwara as Giulietta/Half Woman
Polly Walker as Palmira
Elizabeth Berrington as Celeste
Myriam Muller as Marianne
Don Warrington as Simon
Claire Johnston as Amelia
Dean Harrington as American business man

}}

Production

Toni Collette said Peter Greenaway chose her by accident for the role of Griselda. "I went in for another part and I had just had my head shaved and I had a Buddha hanging around my neck. Afterwards I thought, 'This is going to teach me to go to an audition looking like that'."{{cite web |title=Eight and a Half Women |work=www.tonicollette.org |url=https://www.tonicollette.org/projects/eight-and-a-half-women/ |access-date=19 March 2022 }}

Reception

=Box office=

The film opened at the box office at #50 with $92,000{{cite web | url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?yr=2000&wknd=21&p=.htm | title=Weekend Box Office Results for May 26-28, 2000 - Box Office Mojo | author=Box Office Mojo | author-link=Box Office Mojo | publisher=Amazon.com | date=2000-07-30 | access-date=2011-10-10}} and grossed $424,123 domestically.{{mojo title|812women|{{frac|8|1|2}} Women}}

=Critical response=

{{frac|8|1|2}} Women received mixed reviews. {{Rotten Tomatoes prose|42|5.1|38|Peter Greenaway's exploration of sexual exploitation exhibits his fondness for breaking taboos, but this seedy exercise's ideas never come together into a satisfying whole.|ref=yes|access-date=April 27, 2025}} {{Metacritic film prose|36|25|ref=yes|access-date=April 27, 2025}}

In a rather positive review, Roger Ebert commented "Now how is this funny? Trying to imagine other kinds of comedies handling the material, I ran it through Monty Python, Steve Martin and Woody Allen before realizing it has its roots in Buster Keaton--whose favorite comic ploy was to overcome obstacles by applying pure logic and ignoring social conventions or taboos. Keaton would have tilted it more toward laughs, to be sure; Greenaway's humor always seems dour, and masks (not very well) a lot of hostility. But, yes, Keaton."{{Cite web |last=Ebert |first=Roger |title=8 1/2 Women movie review & film summary (2000) {{!}} Roger Ebert |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/8-12-women-2000 |access-date=2023-09-26 |website=rogerebert.com |language=en}}

References

External links

{{IMDb title|0154443|{{frac|8|1|2}} Women}}
{{mojo title|812women|{{frac|8|1|2}} Women}}
{{rotten-tomatoes|8_12_women|{{frac|8|1|2}} Women}}
{{Metacritic film|title={{frac|8|1|2}} Women}}
[https://web.archive.org/web/20080408022450/http://petergreenaway.org.uk/8halfwomen.htm 8½ Women at petergreenaway.org.uk]

Category:1999 films

Category:1999 comedy-drama films

Category:British comedy-drama films

Category:Dutch comedy-drama films

Category:Films set in Geneva

Category:German comedy-drama films

Category:1990s English-language films

Category:English-language Dutch films

Category:English-language German films

Category:English-language Luxembourgian films

Category:1990s Italian-language films

Category:1990s Japanese-language films