7 donne e un mistero

I started watching with no expectations, wanting to exercise my Italian, and had lots of fun. The storyline resembles Agatha Christie's stories, which I consider to be simple, engaging and relaxing to read. The women are gorgeous, the visuals are nice, the dialogue is funny. It's not a heavy-mistery movie, but a comedy and it did its job. I was not bored and I haven't once looked at my phone. I'm giving it 6 stars only because I think movies that have 8 stars or more are exceptional. 6 is nice, fun to watch if you're into this genre and bored, but not a "must see" or "thought provoking". All in all, not a waste of time.

Few people know it,but Ozon's "huit femmes" is itself a remake ; a first version of Robert Thomas's play (also often performed on stage in the fifties) was filmed in black and white as 'la nuit des suspectes" (1957 ):this first effort was more pessimistic than Ozon 's whodunit cum musical comedy .

The Italian version jettisoned the songs -they were French and they should have been replaced by Italian hits ,had it been treated like in Ozon's pleasant work ;a director whose only daring gesture -not really risqué anymore at the time- was Ardant's lesbian character .

The Italian version kept it ; it is also enjoyable to see Ornella Vanoni ( a singer and co-star of Virna Lisi in "Romolo e Remo peplum) reprising the part of Danielle Darrieux .All the actresses overplay (they also did in the French color version ) which is not a real problem ; Thomas was certainly influenced by Agatha Christie's whodunits ;the situation -people locked up in a house surrounded by the snow- reminds you of her play "the mousetrap ".

Nice try but there is a much better version, a French film 8 Femmes with absolutely stellar cast including Catherine Deneuve, Fannie Ardan, and other stars. The French film also included charming dances and songs for every female character.

However, the Italian version was not bad at all, with beautiful winter scenery and homely Christmas interior. Maybe too much farce and comic elements and to few drama to make it truly great, also lack of real crime moments in the plot made the film little bit shallow and more like a theatrical comedy than difficult family drama. I also wished less colourful but more truthful, more developed characters, as there was plenty of possibilities for this.

Now after 15 minutes I was starting to 'switch off' but then I really became absorbed in this sweet, whimsical and entertaining film. Beautiful costumes and scenes with plenty of vibrant colour which enhance this comical film. The plot has a twist and all characters are very well cast indeed. The acting was good and the story moved along at a good pace.

Grandma was my favorite character, and I had quite a few suspects in mind, none of which were correct. I thoroughly enjoyed it, it was funny in parts but not too much that it spoilt the plot.

Thank you and well done to all!! Definitely NOT a 5.

First things first this is a farce of a film and sometimes they can be truly annoying. Luckily this has a two things going for it, a : the film is truly beautiful to watch, and b: the cast are top notch. Susanna (DiSana Del Bufalo) arrives at the family house for Christmas. Also at the house are her mum and dad, gran, aunt, sister and the new maid. Soon the maid finds the father dead, stabbed in the back. Is the murderer still in the house, they all start blaming each other and they all seem to have motives. Some great performance in this film, including Sabrina Impacciatore as the mousy Aunt Agostina and Luisa Ranieri as the maid Maria. Great ending too.