The women of an isolated Mennonite colony discover that the men of their community have been drugging and assaulting them for years. They gather in secret in a hayloft to debate their options: do nothing, stay and fight or leave everything they have ever known. Sarah Polley's film is built entirely as a philosophical argument, and the women have almost no time to settle it.
Women Talking is a 2022 drama film directed by Sarah Polley. This breakdown covers 4 techniques (2 narrative and 2 cinematography), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, Project Hail Mary uses several of the same techniques.
Building scenes out of questions and answers, where 1 character tests and picks apart what another believes. The argument itself drives the drama.
How this film uses it
Polley builds the film as a real debate. Each woman's position is tested by the others, and arguments that seemed settled are reopened. The conversation is all the dramatic action the film has.
Where to see it
The 3-option vote: Do Nothing, Stay and Fight, Leave. The vote splits and an argument follows. The film refuses to give you a single correct answer.
Shooting almost the whole film in 1 confined place. Set design and camera movement keep it visually interesting, and the space itself takes on meaning as the story goes on.
How this film uses it
Almost the entire film takes place in the hayloft. The tight space matches the women's limited choices. Alongside that, the world outside the barn stands for both danger and the possibility they are arguing toward.
Where to see it
The women arriving in the hayloft before dawn. The walls of the barn set the stakes of the debate immediately. You can hear the outside world and you can't see it.
Putting women at the center as leads, leaders and villains, and letting their choices drive every major plot turn. The story treats this as normal and never makes their gender the subject.
How this film uses it
The men are absent from the film's central debate, apart from August, the schoolteacher who takes the minutes. They are mostly the background to the women's argument. The women deliberating together is the film's whole world.
Where to see it
The moment the women make their choice without the men's knowledge or permission. The film's structure argues that this power was always theirs and was always suppressed.
Draining most of the color from the image, leaving gray skies, cold blues and muted browns. The world looks stripped of comfort and hope, and you can't enjoy it as pretty.
How this film uses it
Luc Montpellier's photography is almost black and white. The color is barely there, a grey-gold in filtered light. It makes the film look like a historical record, so the women's debate feels both specific and archival.
Where to see it
The hayloft filled with dusty light. The washed-out palette makes the present-day story feel like testimony from a past that has not ended yet.
Questions
Women Talking: quick answers
What filmmaking techniques does Women Talking use?
CineCode breaks down 4 techniques in Women Talking (2022): Socratic Dialogue Structure, Single-Location Cinematography, Female Agency as Structural Default and Desaturated War Palette.
Who directed Women Talking?
Sarah Polley directed Women Talking, released in 2022. CineCode also covers Take This Waltz (2011).
What films are similar to Women Talking?
Films that share techniques with Women Talking include Project Hail Mary (2026), 12 Angry Men (1957), Saving Private Ryan (1998), Princess Mononoke (1997).
