Conversation(s) avec une femme

The film stats as a casual meeting of a man (Aaron Eckhart) and a woman (Helen Bonham Carter) on the wedding banquet in a New York City Hotel. They seem to know each other and used to be close once. Now she is married to a doctor, the cardiologist, and lives in London. He has a steady girlfriend, a "23 on August 12" Broadway Show Dancer. They seem to like each other and flirt innocently while drinking champagne, smoking (she is) and dancing. But gradually, apparently forgotten or hidden very deep inside feelings come back to life so intensely that they might (or not) change a man's and a woman's lives again.

This is my kind of film, with only two main characters, with the subtle interaction between them, when we have to rely more on their body languages, their eyes, their facial expressions than to the words that they say to each other. "Conversations with Other Women" is a riveting, bittersweet, honest, and realistic movie about making choices, losses, and regrets. Two people used to be the one world which had split years ago leaving them not just on the different continents but on the different halves of the screen. The film brings to mind Before Sunrise of course but its atmosphere is more sober and melancholic. It is not about possibility of future together, it is all about past. Both actors are excellent. The split screen technique works perfectly for the whole duration of the film. It is a very well made and creative indie picture which I enjoyed watching.

From the moment I saw the trailer for CONVERSATIONS WITH OTHER WOMEN I wanted to see this film. The combination of Helena Bonham Carter and the terrific Aaron Eckhart together on the screen with dialog that is out of this world, both funny and sad, at the same time, makes this film an intelligent and smart artistic piece of work. And the split screen makes it even more interesting as you get to watch the actors pull off such marvelous performances. I want to see this film again just to see what I might have missed.

When the film begins at a wedding and continues with the momentum of the attraction a couple feel for one another, it is impossible not to think of your own wedding experiences and perhaps the magic of meeting "the right one" as time ticks away in your life. New York is the perfect location for this film and as the last frame of the film appears before the credits roll, you simply don't want to have this couple leave. CONVERSATIONS WITH OTHER WOMEN makes you really think about what is important in your personal life and when you finally meet that "special person", hold on to him, or her, for the rest of your life. Bravo, Hans Canosa for this brilliant film.

I was lucky enough to see this movie on Monday, September 5, the last day of Telluride 2005. There were five other screenings that had sold out before that. I'd heard the about the film, but wasn't sure I had to see it until I read Roger Ebert's review of the film on his website's festival writeup.

I didn't think that a movie made entirely in split screen could be anything but a gimmick. But after seeing the film, I agree with Ebert--the split screen comes to seem necessary. The split screen is used not only to show the simultaneous actions and reactions of both characters, but also shows flashbacks juxtaposed with the present, alternate versions of the present, and moments imagined or hoped by the characters that quickly return to reality. Sometimes the present is fractured into more than one emotion for a given line or action, showing an actor performing the same moment in different ways. The editing is assured and masterful, employing storytelling techniques that couldn't exist without the split screen. The writing is brilliant, full of humor and insight. The movie is like nothing you've ever seen before.

Aaron Eckhart and Helena Bonham Carter are amazing--funny and heartbreaking at the same time. I really can't wait to see this movie again. If a movie ever rewarded two viewings, it's a movie that plays in two frames.

Given the way the story is told, "Conversations with Other Women" plays out as somewhat of a romantic mystery demanding a slow, selective unraveling by a keen audience. It follows two deliberately unnamed characters (a man and a woman) through the latter part of a wedding reception and holds on them through their evening together. Earlier works like Richard Linklater's duo "Before Sunrise" and "Before Sunset" come instantly to mind. Although it might not literally be conveyed in real time, there's such immediacy to the conversation that ensues. Like Linklater's films the dialogue heavy film never feels overbearing and stage-like, possibly due to the writing and possibly due to the visual technique that will no doubt color many reviews and comments about the film. It's told with a constant use of split-screen, in an attempt to present two perspectives. Mostly the use of this style assists with pacing, and never fully follows through on the promise of conveying opposing story lines. Regardless the choice to use split-screen never becomes flashy, like it did in when it came into vogue in the mid-1960s, but it does seem more fueled by digital ability than narrative necessity. Whether it's this curious technique, the impressive performances of Aaron Eckhart and Helena Bonham Carter, or the subtle screen writing, "Conversations with Other Women" seems to effortlessly become one of those quickly cherished works that demands you hang onto every word, every gesture. It's really a beautiful work and has the potential to become a classic love story couples and hopeless romantics will go to for years to come. But it very likely won't.

Hans Canosa makes a strong debut with Gabrielle Zevin's intelligent screenplay (read two character dialogue) CONVERSATIONS WITH OTHER WOMEN and while some viewers may be distressed about his choice of use of the split screen presentation, Canosa's decision to be the editor of the film makes a strong argument for his artistic decision. We are able to not only see ell sides of the characters physically, but we are also allowed to step into the 'private space' created by each of the characters, a space that grows in meaning as the film proceeds. For this viewer it enhances the story.

It would be difficult to imagine two finer actors than Helen Bonham Carter and Aaron Eckhart to pull off this story. Bonham Carter has flown in form London as a last minute replacement bridesmaid for an old friend and is bored by the wedding until she encounters Aaron Eckhart whom we soon learn is the bride's brother. But coincidences don't stop there: soon the couple decide to have a night together and as they begin to share their current uncomfortable lives they recall that they were young lovers (well played by Erik Eidem and Nora Zehetner in flashbacks) and more than likely were married as first marriages.....but to say more would ruin the repartee that these two brilliant actors enjoy playing against each other.

Canosa manages to create a solid interplay between his actors and then capitalizes on the gifts of each by placing them in simultaneous and revealing views that more that provides his rationale for using the split screens as his technique. Bonham Carter is more beautiful than ever and proves she is one of our finest actresses on film, seen far too seldom these days. CONVERSATIONS WITH OTHER WOMEN is a sly look at relationships that slowly creeps up on you as you learn the secrets of each character. It is a fine piece of film-making! Grady Harp