Tell It Like a Woman

Wow, this mess of a... feature presentation (one hesitates to call it a film) plays like a screening at a mid-level shorts festival where organizers slapped together two hours worth of Shorts ranging from okay-ish (the Indian one) to embarrassingly on-the-nose (e.g. The Jennifer Hudson one). That screening (the one you might just be walking out of at that hypothetical festival) might be called Women's Voices or something like that, but that's really all they have in common. Annoyingly, if the idea was to represent a female experience, said experience is based all in cliché and narrow views of what female subjectivity can be. You get: woman as mothers, as occupied with housework, as victims of abuse, as having mental health issues (several times), as beauty-obsessed. That's all you could come up with? Feminists would say: thanks for nothing.

And at this point, I think the Academy is actively trolling poor Diane Warren by handing her Oscar nomination after nomination for mediocre songs written for poor movies, never with any chance of winning.

Watched it to check boxes on nomination nods, otherwise would have never even heard of it. And with good reason.

Seven badly written stories (some barely ok, others just painfully awful), mostly stereotypical and melodramatic, devoid of emotional weight. By the time it's finally over, there isn't one memorable scene, line or character.

It's insane it can now claim to be an Oscar-nominated movie, especially when compared to remarkable films (Nope, Northman, Woman King) which were completely snubbed by the Academy this year, but here we are. Alas, not even perennial nominee Diane Warren is able to save this tragedy, since 'Applause' is as bland as cellophane, better suited to a High School Music sequel that no one asked for.

I just wonder what the hell were Jennifer Hudson and Marcia Gay Harden thinking...

No pun intended - as you can see by the ratings, some would have liked if this never got made. Now I don't fully agree with that sentiment. But I understand that most had issues with this movie that consists of a lot of shorter stories compiled (and combined) to make a feature length movie out of.

The very first one already seems out of place. Quite the overacting and really way too out there. The talent assembled would suggest that this could have been something really good. Not sure where it went wrong - and some topics are really worthy our time ... and yet this never really has any spark ... any connection with the viewer. Well most of them - which is a shame. I guess if you watch it as something experimental, it might work ... but promoting it with all the names ... I reckon wrong expectations have been sparked ... I don't think it is as bad as the vote suggest, but overall it does remain quite messy .. not in a good sense.

7 short stories ranging from all different backgrounds and ages of women, some very profound ones based on true stories. Addressing topics of mental health, addiction, prison, what it's like to be a mother, poverty, family issues, homelessness, suicidality, outstanding female doctors who go above and beyond, women helping women escape from domestic violence, the pressure of societal beauty standards, embodying your true self, the trans experience, and many more. Yes, there should be trigger warnings. If you cannot stomach seeing what we go through, don't watch it. If you can, look at it from our point of shoes for a moment. We all have issues, that is the only thing that's universal. I think people don't understand the point of this film is what you take from it. It's in the bloody title. Tell it like a woman. Watch how we write women, how we feel as women, what we deal with as women, how society treats us as women, how we heal as women, how we show compassion as women, how we self sacrifice as women, how we come together as women, how we change the world as women, how we see the world as women. There are so many movies that portray women in poorly written, poorly filmed, one sided ways. This is not that. These women are complex, well rounded, they evolve and learn and change. And honestly the people who write these negative views, in my opinion, lack depth.

I hesitate to call this a "movie". At most a very mediocre collection of stories with major flaws in the storylines, direction and, above all, acting. Difficult to imagine who would enjoy this film. One can endure it, but it is neither interesting, nor thought-provoking, suspenseful or motivating. Some of the "actresses" (first and foremost Jacqueline Fernandez, whose beauty is inversely proportional to her acting skills) are so mediocre that they only elicit a strong cringe reaction through their bad acting. What a waste of resources, what a waste of time for the audience. Don't even think of renting it, would be a waste of time and money.