Innofensive

"8 Women" is Francois Ozon's adaptation of Robert Thomas's play; a

genre-agnostic mystery-musical-comedy-melodrama set in a country house in the 1950s. Think Gosford Park meets Cats.

This promised to be the best French film with a number in the title since Emmanuelle 2. It's a murder mystery in the finest Agatha Christie tradition: Marcel, the man of the house, is found with a knife in his back. The eponymous octet of female suspects all have a motive (naturellement) and are stuck until the police can be contacted. What better to do while the snow clears than to solve the murder?

"8 Women" oozes retro chic and arch irony. The film is shot in gloriously

oversaturated Technicolor, the festive sets look as though they've been

lifted from "It's a Wonderful Life" (they're rubbish), and the costumes are

perfect.

And just when atmopshere threatens to get leaden with accusations and

revelations, someone will protest their innocence through the cheery medium

of a 60s-inflected song-and-dance number.

The cast are flawless; Fanny Ardant and Catherine Deneuve, the Grand Dames

of French Cinema, are wonderfully camp and Isabelle Huppert is brilliant as

a bitter spinster.

But after a while all that oozing gets you down. It's all terribly clever but

unfortunately not terribly funny. Perhaps the best word to describe 8 Women is

innofensive. It's a pleasant enough, but never pant-wettingly enjoyable,

farce. A film to take your Mum to.