Two ageing actresses share a Parisian flat. On their walls, pictures of actresses of movie stars of the Thirties. One still play small parts, the other does small works to live. They act. They re-act their faded glory, they re-act their parts, they act their lives, makingfrom each small event a source of games.
The opening credits instantly places Women Women on the scale of the myths with all these portraits of stars from the golden age of the studios. Written and directed by Paul Vecchiali and co-written by Noel Simsolo (both writers for prestigious French magazine Les Cahiers du cinema), who also plays in it, Women Women is one of the most beautiful and unique child of a generation, the one of the New Wave, nourished with American and French classical films myth. Imaginative transitions, characters starting suddenly to sing (wonderful songs by Roland Vincent), unexpected sudden talkings to the camera, Women Women is constantly inventing. Such are the scenes and dialogues, precisely written and magnified by the two outstanding actresses Hélène Surgère and Sonia Saviange. Passing through violently contrasted emotions, they are moving or seducing, funny or irritating, classy or vulgar, as complex as women can be, incarnating a certain idea of femininity.
To help her friend rehearsing the part of Andromaque, Helene brings up the memory of a dead child and make her express a powerful emotion and we can not tell at this point how sincere it is for the character or even for the actress. Life and acting are mixed and hard to separate. Walking in such uncertain territory, the spectator can only frontally receive the emotion. “What must I believe? What is true in all this?” asks Hélène to her friend who just gave her a great story about money bills found is the streets. All and nothing could be our answer. Everyting is staged and everything is true. The world is a stage, the stage is a world.
The film presentation at the Venice Film Festival made such a strong impression on Pier Paolo Pasolini that he had the two actresses re-acting one scene of the film in Salo the year after. Now available for the very first time in France, the DVD has unfortunately no subtitles. While waiting for an hypothetical English-friendly DVD, keep in mind Women Women is one of the most beautiful films of seventies French cinema and try not to miss it if it ever screens near your home.
Francis Chérasse
More information about Women Women
Anne Benhaïem studied cinema at French cinema school Fémis, in the directors section. She wrote, directed and edited a dozen of short films (Solo tù, co-directed with Arnaud Dommerc, Families Theater starring Helene Lapiower, Humphrey Bogart and the Invisible Woman) and co-wrote with Sophie Fillières (Ouch, Pardon My French) or Marc Cholodenko (writer for Philippe Garrel). We invite you to visit the Facebook page (in French) where she launches a subscription to finance her 
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