Film

Women Talking

Name: Women Talking
Genre: Drama
Released: 2022
Cast: Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, Judith Ivey, Ben Whishaw

Social drama
Crime
Very dark
Slow-burning

A film about Mennonite women in an isolated colony deciding whether to stay or leave after discovering systematic sexual assault by the men. It's a conversation — almost a play — about faith, betrayal, solidarity, and the cost of speaking truth to power. Demanding, intimate, and unexpectedly alive.

TMDb rating

3.4

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you want a talky, morally knotted drama where the power sits in argument, bruised silences and careful dialogue rather than in images of violence.

Skip it if you need onscreen action or a single clear hero to follow, since it is mostly women debating in one room, and the talk can feel static.

What it asks of you: Long stretches of earnest argument unfold at an unhurried pace, heavy and close, with little relief and few lighter moments to catch your breath.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Spotlight2015

Ensemble drama about journalists uncovering institutional abuse. Like Women Talking, it's about ordinary people finding courage to expose what powerful systems wanted hidden, told with precision and moral clarity.

But Methodical and procedural rather than emotionally lush. If you want catharsis, this offers something colder: the satisfaction of truth-telling.

The Farewell2019

A family navigates a profound moral choice across cultural lines. Both films trust their ensemble to carry weight through conversation and nuance rather than plot, finding humanity in disagreement.

But Quieter than you might expect. The drama lives in small moments and unspoken tension, not confrontation.

Never Rarely Sometimes Always2020

Two young women's journey of bodily autonomy and survival. Like Women Talking, it centers female solidarity and uses restraint as a storytelling tool—saying more by showing less.

But Deliberately paced and observational. Some find this aesthetic distance emotionally frustrating rather than moving.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Women Talking

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Eighth Day1996

Both films center female consciousness within religious communities that have failed women; both use formal restraint to honor the weight of what's being said.

A Polish film about a woman rebuilding life after trauma within a rigid Catholic community. Shares Women Talking's specificity about faith, gender, and survival—but from Eastern Europe, in a different era, with a different formal language.

But Black-and-white, 1990s art cinema. Visually austere and narratively oblique in ways that demand active engagement, not passive watching.

A Hidden Life2019

A man and woman resist totalitarian power through faith and conscience. Shares Women Talking's preoccupation with faith, community pressure, and the cost of individual conviction within a closed system.

But Terrence Malick's visual poetry won't be for everyone. Three and a half hours of meditative beauty can feel like indulgence or like prayer, depending on your patience.

Philomena2013

An older woman uncovers institutional cruelty within the Catholic Church. Both films ask how women survive systems that have harmed them, and whether forgiveness is ever owed.

But Balances humor with darkness in ways some find tonally inconsistent. The lightness might feel wrong for the subject matter.

First Reformed2018

A pastor questions faith and institutional complicity. Both films examine conscience within religious frameworks, using confined spaces and dialogue to explore moral paralysis and awakening.

But Bleak and oblique. If you want clarity or conventional narrative momentum, this withholds both deliberately.

The Power of the Dog2021

Psychological intensity wrapped in a western. Like Women Talking, it's about power, masculinity as a system, and how communities enable harm through silence and social convention.

But Slow-burn and ambiguous. Some viewers find the revelation underwhelming relative to the buildup.

The Deep Blue Sea2011

A woman in post-war England confronts desire, duty, and self-determination. Restrained but emotionally precise, asking what women owe themselves versus what society demands.

But Dated cinematically; the pacing is very 2011 arthouse. Emotional stakes may feel muted by the formal distance.

Winter Light1963

Both use religious faith as their real subject while appearing to be about plot; both suggest that confronting betrayal within faith requires radical honesty that communities often forbid.

Bergman's bleak masterpiece about faith in crisis. A woman and man confront the collapse of meaning. Like Women Talking, it's largely dialogue and faces—asking whether community and belief can survive when they fail us most.

But Swedish, made in 1963, philosophically dense, cinematically austere. Bergman at his most uncompromising—not for those seeking narrative comfort.