Product Details

• Actors: Shelley Duvall, Sissy Spacek, Janice Rule, Robert Fortier, Ruth Nelson
• Directors: Robert Altman
• Writers: Robert Altman, Patricia Resnick
• Producers: Robert Altman, Robert Eggenweiler, Scott Bushnell
• Format: Anamorphic, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Criterion
• DVD Release Date: April 20, 2004
• Run Time: 124 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0001GH5TW
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #20,791 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential video
"The cinema," Orson Welles famously noted, "is a ribbon of dream." 3 Women is one of few feature films on record as having taken form in a dream. The dreamer was Robert Altman, and although all his best work has an oneiric quality--the floaty zooms, the eerie pastels bleeding into one another, the slip and slide of characters' trajectories overlapping in the fluid accumulation of what passes for narrative--this last masterpiece in his amazing seven-year run of 1970s masterpieces is only more so. Shelly Duvall, that most unorthodox of Altman creatures, locks in the tone with her eerie portrayal of Millie Lammoreaux, a Texan hoyden whose nonstop prattle turns life into a stream-of-consciousness reverie even as most of the people in her vicinity studiously ignore her. Her primacy is worshiped, then emulated by a strange, certifiably dysfunctional childwoman named Pinky Rose (Sissy Spacek) who comes to work in the same old-age home as Millie, moves in with her, and progressively usurps her lifestyle and finally her identity. The third woman, Willie (the late Janice Rule), is a pregnant artist who paints reptilian humanoid figures on the floors of swimming pools. Willie's husband (Robert Fortier), a strutting gun nut who once had a bit part on TV's Wyatt Earp ("He knows Hugh O'Brian"), is just about the only male character of consequence in the film. This macho man gets his--but what "his" may be is only one of the movie's beguiling mysteries. It's only appropriate that the cameraman, Chuck Rosher, should be the son of the man who photographed F.W. Murnau's Sunrise. --Richard T. Jameson

Product Description
In a dusty, under-populated California resort town, Pinky Rose (Sissy Spacek), a naive and impressionable Southern waif begins her life as a nursing home attendant. There, Pinky finds her role model in fellow nurse "Thoroughly Modern" Millie Lammoreaux (Shelley Duvall), a misguided would-be sophisticate and hopeless devotee of Cosmopolitan and Woman's Day magazines. When Millie accepts Pinky into her home at the Purple Sage singles' complex, Pinky's hero-worship evolves into something far stranger and more sinister than either could have anticipated. Featuring brilliant performances from Spacek and Duvall, Robert Altman's dreamlike masterpiece, 3 Women, careens from the humorous to the chilling to the surreal, resulting in one of the most unusual and compelling films of the 1970s.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shelley Duvall and Sissy Spacek ROCK!!!, May 11, 2004

By	joe449 (Lakewood, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

I first encounterd '3 Women' while flipping through the cable channels on a lazy summer day in 1997. I tuned into the movie right at the scene where Sissy Spacek was screaming at Shelley Duvall from a hospital bed, "DON'T CALL ME PINKY -- GET OUT OF HERE!" It was from this moment on that I became fascinated with Robert Altman's dreamlike masterpiece, '3 Women.' I made sure to tape it during a repeat screening, and for years hoped that it would make it to DVD, for it was never even released on VHS! So when I heard about Criterion giving it the deluxe treatment, I was very excited.

'3 Women' is not a conventional film by any means. Every person I invite over to watch it, either loathes it or is so utterly puzzled that they need to have a stiff drink afterwards. It is not a film that all audiences will appreciate. However, those with an interest in unusual characters or artsy cinema should find it a rewarding experience, especially with repeated viewings. It's not so much a matter the film being ahead of it's time -- '3 Women' is in a timespace all of it's own!

The strongest attraction of '3 Women' for me, is the remarkable performances by Shelley Duvall and Sissy Spacek. Duvall brings a sense of pathos and false reassurance to Millie. Can't we all think of some Millie-types who we know that try so hard to fit in with society but just fail miserably? Spacek, on the other hand, gives Pinky an other-worldliness that at times borders on a personality disorder right out of the DSM-IV manual.

Like '2001: A Space Odyssey,' '3 Women' leaves several mysteries unanswered and leaves the viewer to fill in the blanks. For instance, why was Pinky was warned about the twins early on in the film? Why did Pinky give Ms. Bunwell Millie's social security number instead of her own? And of course, what was the inexplicable final scene all about?

Criterion's DVD presention is acceptable. Robert Altman provides a commentary track which is more than welcome. There's also some interesting period photos, a teaser trailer, the theatrical trailer and two TV spots. I would have loved a documentary or some interviews with the cast, but I am quite satisfied with what is presented.

Intriguing but never overbearing, '3 Women' is one of the most interesting and brilliant films of all time. Watch it with an open mind, and some wine -- perferably Lemon Satin or Tickled Pink, of course.

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A True Cinematic Masterpiece, September 4, 2003

By	Don Pinkston (Lexington, Kentucky) - See all my reviews

Dreamlike. Hypnotic. Surreal. Creepy. Yes, Robert Altman's Three Women is all of those things. It's also a true cinematic masterpiece. Shelley Duvall and Sissy Spacek give two of the best performances ever put on film as Millie and Pinky, two assistants at a convalescent home in Desert Springs, California. Who is the most pathetic? Millie, who fancies herself a hip social butterfly when, in reality, she is either ignored by or made fun of by those she considers her confidants and admirers? Or Pinky, the childlike woman who idolizes her? It's a toss up, but these two women become roommates in a swinging singles apartment complex(The Purple Sage)and it isn't long before things start getting really weird. Shelley Duvall's performance here is mesmerizing in it's detail. In improvised monologues she rambles on and on about her (non-existant) beaus, her fab recipe for Chocolate Pudding Tarts, and her chance at becoming the new Brett Girl! It's hysterical! Sissy Spacek is just as hilarious in her wide eyed infatuation with Millie. But if you're thinking this movie is a comedy you are dead wrong. After a bump on the head during an attempted suicide, Pinky begins to think she IS Millie. Is she? Observing at a distance is Willie, the third woman, the pregnant wife of a former cowboy who paints bizarre portraits of a rape and murder among reptilian aliens. Once this theft of personality gets underway, the movie really starts to sink it's hooks in you. Based on a dream, writer/producer/director Altman has created a visually stunning (three-wheelers racing across the desert), provacotive, enthralling character study of three fascinating people. Forget the ambiguous ending--the real question is why hasn't this movie ever been released on video or dvd? I taped it off cable almost 15 years ago and wouldn't sell my copy for anything. For any serious Altman fan--this film is a must own.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shelley Duvall RULES, August 29, 2002

By A Customer

Director John Ford once said that directors preside over accidents. Altman, who encourages his actors to contribute to the creative process by contributing dialogue, costumes, etc., has engineered some of the happiest accidents of all. His best pictures, like this one, Nashville, and The Long Goodbye, have a spontaneity that can't be faked. Shelley Duvall's character is a complete original. Her prattle--about recipes, tips for picking up men, and interior decoration--is fascinating because it's so precisely observed. Her relationship with Sissy Spacek is similarly unique. The first hour of the film, which is about the unfolding of this relationship, is so minutely rendered, so unusually paced and designed that it seems to belong to its own genre. But the last third IS like Persona, and is slightly less interesting. (Persona didn't need a re-make; it was perfect.) The ending has a slightly hokey feminist film-theory aura about it. But I'd still call this one of my favorite movies, if not my favorite. The costumes and color schemes remind me of how dull most movies look today. People say the picture is "dream-like" as if that were a liability. To me, the greatest movies ARE dreams, and in this one, the dream is so good that I'd almost rather not wake up. (Serious Altman devotees probably know just what sort of dreams he specializes in.) I would absolutely buy it if it appeared on DVD.