8 Women
Short description
Set in a snowbound French country house in the 1950s, 8 Women follows a bourgeois family gathering for Christmas that is thrown into crisis when the head of the household is found murdered. Eight women close to him were present, and all become suspects as the day turns into a long investigation marked by arguments, betrayals and uncovered secrets. Each of the women has her own reasons for wanting him dead, and as they accuse one another, long-hidden family truths begin to surface.
François Ozon directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Marina de Van. It was his fourth film in a career of twenty, following Under the Sand and preceding Swimming Pool. The cast is led by Catherine Deneuve as Gaby, Isabelle Huppert as Augustine, Fanny Ardant as Pierrette, Emmanuelle Béart as Louise, Virginie Ledoyen as Suzon and Firmine Richard as Madame Chanel.
Produced by Olivier Delmosc and Marc Missonnier, 8 Women was made for about 8 million dollars and took roughly 42 million dollars worldwide, a strong multiple of its cost. On IMDb, it holds a 6.9 rating from over a thousand votes, while critics rated it 7 out of 10 across more than a hundred reviews, placing professional appraisal slightly above the general audience response.
What's left behind the scenes
- In the German distribution version of the film, eight French stars dubbed eight German film stars – Senta Berger (Gaby – Catherine Deneuve), Hannelore Elsner (Pierrette – Fanny Ardant), Cosma Shiva Hagen (Catherine – Ludivine Sagnier), Nina Hoss (Louise – Emmanuelle Béart), Nicolette Krebitz (Suzon – Virginie Ledoyen), Ruth-Maria Kubitschek (Mami – Danielle Darrieux), Katja Riemann (Agustín – Isabelle Huppert), Yasmin Tabatabai (Madame Chanel – Firmine Richard).
- Virginie Ledoyen’s character is pregnant; the actress herself was also pregnant during filming, and Danielle Darrieux joked that the film should have been called “Nine Women.”
- Director François Ozon wanted to make a remake of George Cukor’s “The Women” (1939), but changed his mind and later came across a play written by Robert Thomas.
- Louise presents a photograph of her former employer. It is a picture of the actress Romy Schneider.
- Pierretta tells Augustine that she reminds her of the heroine of the novel “La Dame aux Camélias.” Augustine is playing Isabelle Huppert, who in turn played Maura Bolognini in “The True Story of La Dame aux Camélias” (1981).
- Twice in the film, the ladies refer to a pistol as a revolver, but it is clearly visible that it is a semi-automatic pistol.
- Initially, each heroine in the film was supposed to be associated not with a flower, but with a certain type of domestic bird, but the director abandoned this idea, preferring to be more 'gallant'.
- This is the third time that Danielle Darrieux has played Catherine Deneuve’s mother. Previously, it was in the films “The Girls of Rochefort” (1967) and “Scene of the Crime” (1986).
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
