‘They Talk’: Sarah Polley Returns Nonviolently Confronting Patriarchy

On February 17, the new work of Sara Polley arrives in theaters. The filmmaker brings together a great cast to tell a story based on the novel by Miriam Toews. Frances McDormand, Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Ben Whishaw and Jessie Buckley are in the cast..

The plot centers on a group of women from an isolated and fictitious Mennonite sect who, after being drugged and sexually assaulted, try to reconcile with their faith after the events that occurred.. The men in their colony have made them believe at first that they have been raped by evil spirits. The group of women meet in a haystack to decide what to do: stay and forgive the men (which is what their radical Christian upbringing dictates, since it is the only way, according to what they have been told, to enter the kingdom of the heavens) or resist and fight against them.

In the clip that we present exclusively from FOTOGRAMAS, we see the group of women talking to each other. They do not mention the act itself, but the possible solutions. One of the youngest begins by claiming to her classmates that “they got caught.” Mara’s character comments that “they could be asked to leave”, something that takes the others by surprise because, as one of the oldest women answers, “they have never asked a man for anything”. That same character below details some moments in which they could have asked a man for help in day-to-day situations, but in the end they did not. “It would be funny if all we asked them to do was leave.” And they all burst out laughing. And it is that within the drama and horror that they have experienced, there is also room for humor, something that makes their relationships more forged. Making tough decisions is not incompatible with joking with each other.

The film has received two Oscar 2023 nominations: Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay, though Sarah Polley and other female directors have been left out of the 2023 Oscars… again. In addition, on its tour of festivals it has collected very good reviews as well as other awards for its cast, its director or the soundtrack signed by the Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir, who won an Oscar for the score created for ‘Joker’.

It had been a decade since Polley had presented a film as a director.. The also actress premiered in 2012 ‘Stories we tell’, considered one of the best films of the 21st century. She later has done work for television, such as ‘Alias ​​Grace’, but without a doubt this film that is now in theaters is one of his most anticipated projects. In 2020, the year the novel came out, it was announced that Polley would be in charge of carrying out the film adaptation. On February 17 it will hit theaters with Universal.