Product Details

• Actors: Fanny Ardant, Emmanuelle Béart, Danielle Darrieux, Catherine Deneuve, Isabelle Huppert
• Directors: François Ozon
• Writers: François Ozon, Marina de Van, Robert Thomas
• Producers: Marc Missonnier, Olivier Delbosc, Stéphane Célérier
• Format: Color, Full Screen, Original recording reissued, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: English, French
• Subtitles: English
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Universal Studios
• VHS Release Date: August 5, 2003
• Run Time: 111 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (93 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0000A59VG
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #329,478 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The cream of France's cinema sirens star in the deliciously candy-colored 8 Femmes, a murder mystery speckled with ornate performances that play up the public image of the actresses themselves. Eight women find themselves snowbound in a house with a dead man--a man each of them (his wife, sister, sister-in-law, mother-in-law, daughters, housekeeper, and chambermaid) had reason to kill. Secrets tumble forth, accusations fly, catfights flare, and confrontations turn steamy, all accompanied by campy performances of 1960s French pop songs. At first, these musical numbers seem like pure kitsch, comic and entertaining, but over the movie's course, they become strangely touching. Catherine Deneuve, Danielle Darrieux, Virginie Ledoyen, Fanny Ardant, Emmanuelle Beart, Isabelle Huppert, Ludivine Sagnier, and Firmine Richard are all superb, investing their cardboard characters with a strange emotional resonance--and their costumes are exquisite. An entrancing piece of giddy fluff. --Bret Fetzer

From The New Yorker

François Ozon's new picture is a tonic of sorts, a hot-hued, postmodern, murder-mystery musical hen party. The setting is virginal and unashamedly fake-a snowbound house interrupted by the arrival of a horde of famous French actresses. The wisest way to list them without giving offense is alphabetically: Fanny Ardant, Emmanuelle Béart, Danielle Darrieux, Catherine Deneuve, Isabelle Huppert, Virginie Ledoyen, Firmine Richard, and Ludivine Sagnier. For sheer fetishistic whoopee, there is very little to rival the sight of Deneuve and Ardant getting into a catfight, all hisses and claws, and then sinking to the floor to stroke each other's whiskers. Ozon plainly worships the idea of the grand dame, and the movie allows him both to honor and deride his own devotion. There's lots of dancing, a striptease, and a surfeit of arch self-consciousness. Yet something of substance does creep through this concoction. In the competitive jostling of the women, we sense the eternal face-off of beauty against the beast of time. Nobody is more touching in this regard than Darrieux, her soft wrinkles unable to erode the exquisite heroines she once incarnated for Max Ophuls. In French. -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

96 of 101 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars French Femmes Fatales Find the Funnybone in F Sharp, September 19, 2002

By 

DMK (Long Beach, California) - See all my reviews

Go see this movie and don't wait until it is remade into a bad American version This is a delightful, go for broke, silly film, that allows its cast and the audience to have a great time at the movies. How often does French cinema treat its audience to a cast that includes some of France's most glamorous leading ladies (Deneuve, Huppert, Ardant, Beart)doing full on slapstick comedy and song? 8 women, trapped in a mansion during a snowstorm in the 1950's, find the master of the house dead. All 8 women are suspects, and are guilty of secrets, as well as digging up the dirt on one another, mud slinging, insult hurling and then singing their hearts out. One of the characters may be guilty of murder, and we learn that they all had motives....Production values are high and attention to detail in costumes and sets are noticeable with an effort to reproduce the images of Technicolor films of the 50's. Isabelle Huppert is a show stealer as the bitter spinster sister Augustine to Catherine Deneuve's Gaby. Director Francois Ozon inspires great performances and manages to pull off a pretty quirky idea. I loved this film but I suppose it is not for everyone. If you are up for a well made French comedy that is a little twisted with sharp witted writing, then sit back and enjoy this French bonbon. Don't worry about the subtitles. You will be laughing so hard you will forget you are reading them. Fun web site shows trailer and clips of songs and much more

38 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Musical Extravaganza....oh yeah, and murder, too., January 29, 2003

By 

Christopher Cook (Plymouth, MN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 8 Women (DVD)

What a surprise and delight it is to see a movie like "8 Femmes." Having seen this movie a bit ago in the theater here in Minneapolis, I have to say that I was thoroughly impressed with it. A fan of Francois Ozon, I was at first apprehensive about it, most likely due to the emotional scars I still have after seeing "Sitcom," but "8 Femmes," is not like that film at all, and is in fact, like no other movie Ozon has made so far. The shining light of the film lies in the performances of the actresses, which can only be described as a meeting of the who's who of French actresses. Deneuve, Huppert, Beart, Ledoyen, Sagnier, and the others really create a film that is not only fun, but keeps us entranced and motivated to finally see "whodunnit." This is certainly a great example of how a movie can be both entertaining and fun without a lot of action. The dialogue is witty and sharp, the sets and costumes a great throwback to the film noir mysteries of the 50's. The musical numbers only add to the fun. Albeit silly, they seem to fit in place and add a great deal more charm to the overall film.

It is a bit disappointing, though, to see that the US DVD release is not going to be getting the extravagent treatment that the DVD release in France got. I recently picked up the deluxe edition of the French release, which contains the movie, an extra disc packed completely full of special featurettes, cast interviews and more, a disc with a peformance of the play that the movie is based on, and the soundtrack on CD. Now, if only a release like that would come to the US....

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bought It For The Cast......Stayed For The Fun...., August 26, 2003

By 

L. Shirley "Laurie's Boomer Views" (Huntington Beach,CA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: 8 Women (DVD)

This review refers to the widescreen DVD(Universal/Focus Features) edition of "8 Women"( "8 femmes" )......

I don't usually buy a DVD unless I have already seen the film and know that I will get my money's worth. But when I saw the cast of this one, it practically jumped into my cart all by itself. The cast includes some of the most wonderful international actresses around.From the legends to the young stars I figured I couldn't go wrong with these names... Catherine Deneuve, Isabelle Huppert, Emanuelle Beart, Fanny Ardent, Virginie Ledoyen, Danielle Darrieux,Ludivine Sagnier and Firmine Richard. I figured right.Insert tounge in cheek and get ready for 8 times the fun in this mystery/comedy.

When a wealthy family plans to spend Christmas together in their secluded home, the unexpected happens. Marcel, the only man among all the women, is found murdered in his own bed. The women who all immediatley begin to suspect each other are snowed in and have found the phone wires cut.The eight women, including Marcel's wife, daughters, mother in law, his sister,sister-in-law, the maid and the cook all have motives, they all have secrets, and they are all about half a bubble off the plumb. Whodunit? It's a geat treat finding out.

After my first view,I was orignally planning to go 4 stars on this film as my standard for mystery/comedy is "The Pink Panther", but this film was so highly entertaining and fun I know I will get years of enjoyment for myself and anyone else who views it.And as I write this I know I can't wait to watch it again. The actresses are brillant,work exceptionaly well together, and the story totaly engaging. Each actress even gets her own clever and fun musical numbers to perform as well. It was written and directed by Francois Ozon and adapted from the Play by Robert Thomas.

Now about the DVD...It is a great view in anamorphic widescreen(1.85:1), a clear picture and sounds great in 5.1 surround. I had a few technical problems with it though, it could be just my copy, but there were several times where it just paused itself. Sometimes it would just restart and sometimes it wouldn't. I found that by reloading it a couple of times, the glitches seemed to work themselves out, but it was annoying to have to do it in the first place. There are no special features other than a couple of theatrical trailers. The film will automatically come on in French with English subtitles, but also has subtitles in Spanish as well. Another reviewer mentioned that to play it only in French without the subtitles, just click on "8 femmes" instead of "8 Women", but I could not locate this option anywhere on my copy.

The actresses won 2 prestigious awards for their wonderful achievement as an ensemble. A Silver Berlin Bear from the Berlin Film Festival and Best Ensemble form the European Film Awards as well. Director Francois Ozon was also recognized with a Reader Jury of the "Berliner Morgenpost" at the Berlin Film Festival. It was also nominated for several other awards.

The film is very French! It is rated R for some adult thematic situations(lesbianism, adultry) but I found nothing offensive or graphic about it.

also available in a great francois ozon 2 pack with a fabulous thriller 8 Women / Swimming Pool ( François Ozon 2 pack)

Merci Beaucoup.....Laurie

Isabelle Huppert fans may also enjoy:Comedy of Innocence