Women Talking Dirty

This is a clever charming film set in Edinburgh. The movie uses the device of Ellen (Gina McKee),a successful cartoonist, inviting her friends to a post-divorce party. A series of flashbacks fill in her background and that of her best friend, Cora (Helena Bonham Carter). The quieter of the two, Ellen was married to smooth charmer Daniel (James Purefoy)for three years. Cora's longest relationship was with Frenchman Claude (Julien Lambroschini)for 10 months, leaving her a single mother. During these flashbacks, Daniel turns out to be a serious gambler who was always on the run from moneylenders and Claude an unreliable lover who leaves Cora as soon as she becomes pregnant. Clearly these women share bad judgement in men. Ellen and Cora turn out to be linked in more ways than friendship-the revelation provokes a split between the women. The film does an excellent job in handling and resolving the conflict between Ellen and Cora. I hope this film comes to the North American market soon!

I've lived in Edinburgh for over 30 years and it saddened me greatly to see life in our city portrayed so ineptly. Edinburgh is a fascinating place for students, artists and young people - but this film failed, by a mile, to convey Edinburgh life. With the honourable exception of Richard Wilson, the attempts at Scottish accents were a complete joke. Gina McKie, Helena Bonham Carter, James Purefoy, etc, looked the part, but that's as far as it went. The geography of Edinburgh was also very distended. Were the characters getting around by teleportation? Certainly not by any pedestrian routes or public transport routes that I have seen! Compare this film with "Shallow Grave" and "Trainspotting" and you'll see the difference.

I enjoyed this film for its unwillingness to make things overly obvious or excessively sentimental. It is hard to say whether the film depicts a study of betrayal, friendship or emotional dependence - but it offers a realistic snapshot of a tenuous friendship between two very different women.

Whether there is a message or not, the film is an effective portrayal of the difference between perceived happiness and real happiness. With Dolly Parton lauded as the archetypal tough gal, the two leads aspire to being in total control of their lives. The film begins with an aborted kiss between the two women (Gina McKee and HBC) and this neatly raises the issue of whether platonic love can compare to romantic love. However, there is more to friendship than hand-holding and the women each have Daniel (James Purefoy) to deal with before they can achieve some measure of self worth.

Not a film for those seeking a simple and obvious tale with a neat resolution but one one for those who enjoy films that raise questions and do not fall into the trap of providing glib answers.

I saw this film on video with little expectation of any great quality given the delayed release, yet felt that the film was even worse than expected. Having read the original novel, I thought the film had good source material, yet the film was nastier and tawdrier than the book was. The Daniel Quinn character played by James Purefoy was cast in a more negative way than in the book. Gratuitous bedroom scenes were vulgar and frankly embarrassing. The viewer understood that the Daniel Quinn character was a sociopath womanizer lounge lizard from the beginning of the film, so all this excessive bedroom stuff was unnecessary, and like beating a dead horse. Viewers should be given some credit for understanding who and what the characters are rather than be given a "paint by number" picture from repeated scenes explaining why a character is good or bad.

Immediately recognisable as a 90's picture (where angst is quaint and cute and alternative lifestyles are tender and heroic), this is a witty and engaging record of a time and a place, as well as a touching observation on issues I presume are of great resonance to women.

If you'll allow me (a bloke) to make this gross generalisation: it seems there are two types of women in the world - those who blithely and automatically have babies and those for whom the obstacles to having babies are life's major dilemma. This film brings together the two types nicely, showing how each (inevitably) brushes up against the other, but who, despite their different personalities, are just as equally in great sympathy with each other.

I baulked at the thought of Londoner Helena Bonham Carter playing a wee Scottish punk character - any movie with affected accents are usually a disaster zone - but she pulled it off brilliantly and has gone up several notches in my estimation as a result. She caught the vivacity and wittily fatalistic character of Cora very amusingly - not least in the scene where she searches on her hands and knees for food in the fridge in front her two young children, or where she runs hysterically shoeless through the streets, pursued by her pending boyfriend, to whom, when he finally catches up with her outside her door, she says "thanks for walking me home".

Along the way there are some pleasantly whimsical (90's style) friends and neighbors, plus Purefoy's beautifully balanced charming/despicable rake. The whole is atmospherically packaged in chilly autumnal Edinburgh, and the film ends up nicely too in a way appropriate for each character.

Anyone with an interest in people and human situations (because these people are reasonably valid) should like this film. Have an open mind and you'll enjoy this.