Women Talking Dirty

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.

Largely dull film with peculiar characters in hard to believe but uneventful & irritating situations. Jimmy Nesbitt & Richard Wilson were good but were not in it enough. The film plods along all centered around a single storyline & situation that any normal person would have resolved in 5 minutes. You'll spend most of it longing the Bonham-Carter character to come clean, which had she had done the next morning probably wouldn't have resulted in anything longer than a two minute row, as she had done little wrong, but instead it's dragged out over three years. Still, I made it through to the end easily.

3/10

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.

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!

If you are looking for an action-packed, edge-of-your-seat movie then this is not for you. However, this is in fact the perfect "quiet-night-in movie". I always like a story every now and again that has no major suspense, but you still find yourself glued to the screen. If it lasted forever I can safely say I would have continued watching this.

Men, do not be drawn aback by the title - the story tells of two women, one a failed student and the other a shy cartoonist, who fall into an extremely unlikely friendship, and experience the ups and downs of becoming best friends. You are never bored during this, as it tells of how their love lives interfere with their friendship. The arguments pile on to you, and leave your mind thinking and taking in the movie's key messages, whilst the jokes leave you smiling and enjoying the fun of this film.

This is a well acted drama, perfectly casted and worth a watch for those interested in movies about companionship, love, hatred and much much more...Definitely two thumbs up!