108 reviews
Altman's Dream Film May Give You Nightmares
Altman made a lot of films that are obscure and deserve to remain so ("Quintet"), but he also made a lot of films that are obscure but deserve to be seen, and "3 Women" is one of those. It's one of the most fascinating films Altman created, and that's really saying something from a director who was able to make even his bad films fascinating.
Altman claimed that "3 Women" was inspired by a dream he had while his wife was lying ill in a hospital, and the film does indeed work on its audience the way a dream does. It resists literal interpretation, and will probably frustrate any viewer who insists upon tidiness in their movies. It communicates its messages instead through pervasive imagery and tone -- it's not "about" something as much as it's about making you FEEL something, and it does that expertly. This movie will stick in your mind and haunt you long after you've seen it.
If I were forced to explain the film's plot, it would go something like this: Shelley Duvall plays Millie, a rather foolish woman who works in a geriatric physical therapy center, and whose roommate has just moved out to live with her boyfriend. Sissy Spacek plays Pinkie, newly hired at the center and put under Millie's direction. Millie is a pathetic character -- she yammers on endlessly about ridiculously trivial things (like how to make tuna melts) and doesn't realize that everyone around her either ignores her or makes fun of her. But Pinkie nevertheless becomes enamored of her and moves in with her. The third woman of the title is Willie, a reclusive artist who owns both the apartment complex in which Millie and Pinkie live, and a saloon that resembles something from a ghost town. She paints murals of strange-looking mythological creatures engaged in violent and sexual acts. These images recur throughout the film, as do images of water. Everything up to this point in the movie is dealt with in a fairly straightforward manner. But then Pinkie has an accident, and when she wakes up, she's become a different person, causing Millie's hold on reality, already tenuous, to unravel. At this point, the film becomes reminiscent of films like "Persona" and "Mulholland Drive," in which seemingly separate female characters merge into different facets of one female personality.
The ending is creepy and chilling in ways that are hard to define. The whole film has violent undertones -- the lone male character in the film is a lout and vaguely predatory; all of the women at various moments seem to be holding back a barely suppressed rage. Altman uses his camera in his characteristically expert manner to shape our perceptions about what we are seeing, and he uses other parts of his mise-en-scene, like color (Millie's favorite colors are yellow and purple, and look for them in the art direction), to bring a slightly surreal quality to even the most mundane of locations.
I've always thought that Shelley Duvall was an underrated actress, and she gives one of her best performances as Millie (and almost looks pretty for a change). Sissy Spacek is tremendous as well, and shows a remarkable range as Pinkie. Both of these actresses do wonderful things with tough roles, and even if we sometimes feel like we're on uneven footing because of the movie's enigmatic nature, the actresses are so assured in their parts that we can rely on them to guide us through it.
Altman directed a quartet of "dream" films that all revolve around the psychological and emotional crises of women: "That Cold Day in the Park" (1969); "Images" (1972); "Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean" (1982); and "3 Women." I've not seen "That Cold Day..", but of the other three, though all of them have qualities to recommend them, "3 Women" is easily the best.
Grade: A
Altman claimed that "3 Women" was inspired by a dream he had while his wife was lying ill in a hospital, and the film does indeed work on its audience the way a dream does. It resists literal interpretation, and will probably frustrate any viewer who insists upon tidiness in their movies. It communicates its messages instead through pervasive imagery and tone -- it's not "about" something as much as it's about making you FEEL something, and it does that expertly. This movie will stick in your mind and haunt you long after you've seen it.
If I were forced to explain the film's plot, it would go something like this: Shelley Duvall plays Millie, a rather foolish woman who works in a geriatric physical therapy center, and whose roommate has just moved out to live with her boyfriend. Sissy Spacek plays Pinkie, newly hired at the center and put under Millie's direction. Millie is a pathetic character -- she yammers on endlessly about ridiculously trivial things (like how to make tuna melts) and doesn't realize that everyone around her either ignores her or makes fun of her. But Pinkie nevertheless becomes enamored of her and moves in with her. The third woman of the title is Willie, a reclusive artist who owns both the apartment complex in which Millie and Pinkie live, and a saloon that resembles something from a ghost town. She paints murals of strange-looking mythological creatures engaged in violent and sexual acts. These images recur throughout the film, as do images of water. Everything up to this point in the movie is dealt with in a fairly straightforward manner. But then Pinkie has an accident, and when she wakes up, she's become a different person, causing Millie's hold on reality, already tenuous, to unravel. At this point, the film becomes reminiscent of films like "Persona" and "Mulholland Drive," in which seemingly separate female characters merge into different facets of one female personality.
The ending is creepy and chilling in ways that are hard to define. The whole film has violent undertones -- the lone male character in the film is a lout and vaguely predatory; all of the women at various moments seem to be holding back a barely suppressed rage. Altman uses his camera in his characteristically expert manner to shape our perceptions about what we are seeing, and he uses other parts of his mise-en-scene, like color (Millie's favorite colors are yellow and purple, and look for them in the art direction), to bring a slightly surreal quality to even the most mundane of locations.
I've always thought that Shelley Duvall was an underrated actress, and she gives one of her best performances as Millie (and almost looks pretty for a change). Sissy Spacek is tremendous as well, and shows a remarkable range as Pinkie. Both of these actresses do wonderful things with tough roles, and even if we sometimes feel like we're on uneven footing because of the movie's enigmatic nature, the actresses are so assured in their parts that we can rely on them to guide us through it.
Altman directed a quartet of "dream" films that all revolve around the psychological and emotional crises of women: "That Cold Day in the Park" (1969); "Images" (1972); "Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean" (1982); and "3 Women." I've not seen "That Cold Day..", but of the other three, though all of them have qualities to recommend them, "3 Women" is easily the best.
Grade: A
- evanston_dad
- Aug 13, 2007
- Permalink
1 + 1 +1 = ?
I've wanted to see Robert Altman's "3 Women"(1977) for long time and finally saw it last night. The references to one of my all time favorites, Ingmar Bergman's "Persona" are obvious: two young women, the main characters (seemingly meek, childlike Pinky and outgoing and seemingly popular but in reality a sad loser Millie seem almost to exchange identities, or to become one in a desperate search for connection and sense of belonging but "3 Women" is memorable and haunting on its own terms. It makes you think long time after it's over. As a matter of fact, I am still thinking about it. I think that it is an incredible work of an extraordinary master. As always in his best films, Robert Altman is terrific - innovative, iconoclastic, free-spirited, unconventional, and truly original. He is a great humanist who sees through his characters but never makes fun of them and he understands them. Under his directing, Shelly Duvall and Sissy Spacec gave two astonishing performances. They were both great but Duvall was a revelation. She adapted the loquacious Millie's personality and become the character. Altman had discovered Duvall at one of the malls in Texas where she was selling cosmetics and given her roles in his six films. I want also to mention the eerie music, the dreamy and uneasy atmosphere of something sinister ready to happen, the scary and mesmerizing murals on the bottom of the pool that the third woman, silent and mysterious, tired and wise Willie (Janice Rule) was painting. Altman did not try to trick or confuse me, and the story seems to be simple one but I am not sure that I understood everything, especially the enigmatic ending. Altman was aware of the effect of his movie to the viewers and in his commentary he says that he sees the film as a painting and that the audience should feel it but not understand it. In this regard it also reminds of "Un chien andalou" (1929) which was supposed to be experienced directly and not analyzed by the viewers.
"3 Women" is another great film by one of the best American film directors. I've never seen a bad film from Robert Altman.
9/10
"3 Women" is another great film by one of the best American film directors. I've never seen a bad film from Robert Altman.
9/10
- Galina_movie_fan
- Jul 10, 2006
- Permalink
Altman's commentary is riveting
I don't feel I can add anything to the excellent commentary by the other reviewers for "3 Women"; I just want to urge film lovers of all stripes to check out Altman't commentary on the Criterion DVD. In the liner notes, they refer to it as "wide-ranging;" it IS that, and expansive, too. It is almost as if Altman was saying to himself, "Well, I'm not going to be around much longer, so I am going to speak my peace about how I feel about film-making and let it all hang out". For the true aficionado, this is as good as it gets. You'll want to savor it in chunks it is so thought-provoking. Not only does Altman reveal all the hidden meanings of the film, he explains at length (with copious examples) the philosophy of his art. It shed light on my previous encounters with Altman's "difficult" style; highly recommended.
- jungophile
- Apr 19, 2005
- Permalink
Altman's best movie
Put together a top-shelf Raymond Carver story and the last two reels of 2001 and you have a dim idea of the unique genius of Altman's 1977 masterpiece, probably the most original movie ever made within the studio system. Shelley Duvall is a practiced flirt and would-be social butterfly, oblivious to the total failure of her Donna Reed mystique, and Sissy Spacek is the childlike tag-along who idolizes her. That's all I'll say about the story, which makes turns you couldn't have guessed at in ways that can't be summarized. Humane, funny, staggeringly strange and deeply creepy, THREE WOMEN defines certain social strata and modes of interaction that you've never seen in a movie before or since--and then goes out on a mystical limb that makes the last third of APOCALYPSE NOW look prosaic. With all due respect to NASHVILLE, MCCABE and many others, Altman never made a better film.
Mix Drama with Black Comedy with Bizarre with Fantasy = Wonderful
Indeed, few movies can haunt you 40 years after you've first seen them. Not only that, even after you've seen them 20 times, still leaving you with a desire to see them again and again? 3 Women is just such a movie. From it's haunting Gerald Busby score, to Bodhi Wind's arresting murals, to the captivating performances by Shelley Duvall and Sissy Spacek to Robert Altman's deft writing and direction. This is a movie which will haunt you and fascinate you.
I knew this movie was no ordinary movie when I seemed to be the only one in that 1977 audience who caught onto Shelley's disobedient skirt. Things began to appear slanted just off center - you just didn't know how off center they were. And that was and is the magic of this film. You never know what utter ridiculous impossibility of life will take hold of you and bring you through such a unusual journey.
Even as the credits start to roll, you begin to wonder: what have I just witnessed? what does this mean? why does it leave me wanting for answers?
Only after you've seen it as many times as I have do you stop asking those questions and accept all of these occurrences as another window in the mind of a genius, which is Robert Altman. With all due respect to Nashville, this is his pinnacle of achievement.
I knew this movie was no ordinary movie when I seemed to be the only one in that 1977 audience who caught onto Shelley's disobedient skirt. Things began to appear slanted just off center - you just didn't know how off center they were. And that was and is the magic of this film. You never know what utter ridiculous impossibility of life will take hold of you and bring you through such a unusual journey.
Even as the credits start to roll, you begin to wonder: what have I just witnessed? what does this mean? why does it leave me wanting for answers?
Only after you've seen it as many times as I have do you stop asking those questions and accept all of these occurrences as another window in the mind of a genius, which is Robert Altman. With all due respect to Nashville, this is his pinnacle of achievement.
- Enrique-Sanchez-56
- Jul 20, 1999
- Permalink
Avant-guard film about female friendships.
Three Women was another Robert Altman masterpiece. His films have always deeply explored the frailties, of the human personality. And Three Women is typical of Altman's deftness, regarding intense characterizations.
This film takes place in the late 70s, in a remote California town. It revolves around three very different female characters, and the effects that each of them has on each other's lives.
Shelley Duvall is cast as Millie. Millie is an intensely garrulous woman. She's obsessed with talking about recipes, that she garners from women's magazines. She annoys those around her, with her constant chatter about her 'latest recipe'.
Millie also desperately wants to impress her male acquaintances. Men seem to mostly shun Millie though, which doesn't stop her from trying to gain their attention.
Millie has a dead-end job, working as a nurse's aid in a nursing home. Her supervisors are brusque, and unsympathetic. She tries to be friendly and helpful, but this often causes her more problems with her bosses.
Pinky (played by the very talented Sissy Spacek) moves to Millie's town. She needs a job and is hired as a nurse's aid, at the same nursing home that Millie works at. Millie is assigned to train Pinky in her new job duties. Pinky soon becomes quite attached to Millie.
Finally, Millie has someone around (Pinky), who actually admires her. When Millie posts a notice on the bulletin board at work , indicating that she seeks a roommate, Pinky is only to happy to get the chance to room with Millie. Pinky then moves into Millie's apartment. Though Millie's apartment has a tacky, garish quality, Pinky expresses how sublime she thinks it is.
One afternoon after work, Millie asks Pinky to go with her to a run-down bar. Pinky meets Millie's friend Edgar, who has set-up a shooting rink out back. He constantly practices shooting there, and invites Millie and Pinky to participate. Edgar is a sophomoric, macho-type, who drinks heavily. He also likes to show-off his marksmanship skills.
Millie also introduces Pinky to Willie, who happens to be Edgar's artist girlfriend. Willie is always painting monstrous, sexually explicit creatures around the bar. Pinky is, inexplicably, mesmerized by Willie's offbeat paintings.
Willie has a haunting, remote presence. She mostly watches everyone else from afar, while being intensely involved with her artwork. Willie also happens to live in the same apartment building, as Millie and Pinky. Her disturbing paintings, adorn the bottom of the swimming pool located there.
Basically, the film doesn't have much of a plot. At least not in the traditional, linear manner that audiences are accustomed to. Instead, Altman chose to focus on the psychological aspects of the relationship between the three woman, and how this changes over time.
The friendship between Pinky and Millie becomes tumultuous, for no obvious reason. Willie is the ethereal, mysterious woman of the three. She doesn't interact much with Millie and Pinky throughout the film. Willie's artwork is so hypnotic to Pinky though, that it has a horrible effect on Pinky's psyche, resulting in tragic consequences. The viewer is left to try and fathom why.
All three women in the film, are social misfits. And they each struggle pathetically to function in the alienating, urban environment that they inhabit. Altman did a marvelous job, highlighting the emotional turmoil that the women inflict on each other, during the course of the film.
This is a film that will leave a deep impression, regarding the dynamics of women's friendships in modern life. But don't expect a neat and tidy conclusion, to the conflicts between the three women. More than any film I've ever seen, this one is vastly open to viewer interpretation.
This film takes place in the late 70s, in a remote California town. It revolves around three very different female characters, and the effects that each of them has on each other's lives.
Shelley Duvall is cast as Millie. Millie is an intensely garrulous woman. She's obsessed with talking about recipes, that she garners from women's magazines. She annoys those around her, with her constant chatter about her 'latest recipe'.
Millie also desperately wants to impress her male acquaintances. Men seem to mostly shun Millie though, which doesn't stop her from trying to gain their attention.
Millie has a dead-end job, working as a nurse's aid in a nursing home. Her supervisors are brusque, and unsympathetic. She tries to be friendly and helpful, but this often causes her more problems with her bosses.
Pinky (played by the very talented Sissy Spacek) moves to Millie's town. She needs a job and is hired as a nurse's aid, at the same nursing home that Millie works at. Millie is assigned to train Pinky in her new job duties. Pinky soon becomes quite attached to Millie.
Finally, Millie has someone around (Pinky), who actually admires her. When Millie posts a notice on the bulletin board at work , indicating that she seeks a roommate, Pinky is only to happy to get the chance to room with Millie. Pinky then moves into Millie's apartment. Though Millie's apartment has a tacky, garish quality, Pinky expresses how sublime she thinks it is.
One afternoon after work, Millie asks Pinky to go with her to a run-down bar. Pinky meets Millie's friend Edgar, who has set-up a shooting rink out back. He constantly practices shooting there, and invites Millie and Pinky to participate. Edgar is a sophomoric, macho-type, who drinks heavily. He also likes to show-off his marksmanship skills.
Millie also introduces Pinky to Willie, who happens to be Edgar's artist girlfriend. Willie is always painting monstrous, sexually explicit creatures around the bar. Pinky is, inexplicably, mesmerized by Willie's offbeat paintings.
Willie has a haunting, remote presence. She mostly watches everyone else from afar, while being intensely involved with her artwork. Willie also happens to live in the same apartment building, as Millie and Pinky. Her disturbing paintings, adorn the bottom of the swimming pool located there.
Basically, the film doesn't have much of a plot. At least not in the traditional, linear manner that audiences are accustomed to. Instead, Altman chose to focus on the psychological aspects of the relationship between the three woman, and how this changes over time.
The friendship between Pinky and Millie becomes tumultuous, for no obvious reason. Willie is the ethereal, mysterious woman of the three. She doesn't interact much with Millie and Pinky throughout the film. Willie's artwork is so hypnotic to Pinky though, that it has a horrible effect on Pinky's psyche, resulting in tragic consequences. The viewer is left to try and fathom why.
All three women in the film, are social misfits. And they each struggle pathetically to function in the alienating, urban environment that they inhabit. Altman did a marvelous job, highlighting the emotional turmoil that the women inflict on each other, during the course of the film.
This is a film that will leave a deep impression, regarding the dynamics of women's friendships in modern life. But don't expect a neat and tidy conclusion, to the conflicts between the three women. More than any film I've ever seen, this one is vastly open to viewer interpretation.
- sonya90028
- Oct 11, 2008
- Permalink
Amazing
Shelley Duvall embodies a character so fantastically and devastatingly original you can't take your eyes off her. She drives this film through the dreamy abstract scenes and the foreboding soundtrack in a yellow Pinto with her (yellow) dress always stuck in the door.
Robert Altman is a director well-known for encouraging his actors to help to create the characters they will inhabit onscreen. Millie is a recognizable person, and so we respond to her - yet there is something otherworldy there as well, and this facet must come straight from Duvall. This otherworldliness I found deeply affecting, because she is such a complete misfit wherever she is. I think she looks quite beautiful with her huge eyes and her toothbrush-teased shiny hair. She is a head above the other young women she works with at the health spa as she walks behind them, chattering inanely. She is thoroughly deluded when she is at the pool in her apartment complex or the hospital where she lunches, flirting with the men - imagining she is popular and desirable. I couldn't find a hint of falseness in this portrayal, and when Duvall's Millie lets fly at Pinkie towards the end with one of the most amazing slaps I've ever seen in a movie, it is a completely organic, cathartic reflex that comes directly from Millie. Altman deserves a lot of credit for injecting so much affectionate humour into these scenes of Millie awkwardly/confidently interacting with her world.
Sissy Spacek is well cast, too, as the childlike Pinkie. She plays off Duvall really beautifully, and her impish grin and curious expression when she observes Millie early in the film is priceless. Her transformation later really shows off this amazing actor's range.
Seasoned performer Janice Rule (she was a Hollywood contract player from the early 50's and in the original Broadway cast of Picnic) is Willy, a character who is really only a sketch. We can only guess at her motivation, but Rule fills things in as much as possible with some nice subtle details.
Altman's screenplay turns to the dark and abstract late in the film, and this would be unforgivable in a lesser film, but it is a mercifully short passage and at this stage he has built up so much good will for the characters that it is more than tolerable.
Robert Altman is a director well-known for encouraging his actors to help to create the characters they will inhabit onscreen. Millie is a recognizable person, and so we respond to her - yet there is something otherworldy there as well, and this facet must come straight from Duvall. This otherworldliness I found deeply affecting, because she is such a complete misfit wherever she is. I think she looks quite beautiful with her huge eyes and her toothbrush-teased shiny hair. She is a head above the other young women she works with at the health spa as she walks behind them, chattering inanely. She is thoroughly deluded when she is at the pool in her apartment complex or the hospital where she lunches, flirting with the men - imagining she is popular and desirable. I couldn't find a hint of falseness in this portrayal, and when Duvall's Millie lets fly at Pinkie towards the end with one of the most amazing slaps I've ever seen in a movie, it is a completely organic, cathartic reflex that comes directly from Millie. Altman deserves a lot of credit for injecting so much affectionate humour into these scenes of Millie awkwardly/confidently interacting with her world.
Sissy Spacek is well cast, too, as the childlike Pinkie. She plays off Duvall really beautifully, and her impish grin and curious expression when she observes Millie early in the film is priceless. Her transformation later really shows off this amazing actor's range.
Seasoned performer Janice Rule (she was a Hollywood contract player from the early 50's and in the original Broadway cast of Picnic) is Willy, a character who is really only a sketch. We can only guess at her motivation, but Rule fills things in as much as possible with some nice subtle details.
Altman's screenplay turns to the dark and abstract late in the film, and this would be unforgivable in a lesser film, but it is a mercifully short passage and at this stage he has built up so much good will for the characters that it is more than tolerable.
- weanedon2001
- Jun 7, 2021
- Permalink
Altman's second best?
"Uh oh! Here comes Thoroughly Modern Millie..."
Playing would-be social butterfly Millie in Robert Altman's often-inscrutable "3 Women", Shelley Duvall creates an amazing, amusing, totally original character. Millie fancies herself a great caregiver at a job where others regard her as nothing; she talks about her neighbors and activities as if she's Sally Bowles, when actually nobody notices her. She's pathetic, but Duvall makes her funny and quirky (and Altman is careful not to make too much fun of her). Sissy Spacek as roommate Pinky is also fine in a less-showy, less-complex role, but her transformation in the second-half shows off her range. The film is slow but not dull, confusing but not off-putting (despite fuzzy cinematography). The one thing I really objected to was the ending, which plays like Greek tragedy mixed with Tennessee Williams. Nobody has dared to make another film like "3 Women". Altman-protégé Alan Rudolph captured some of its eccentric quality in "Welcome to L.A.", but his script wasn't clever enough. The writing here may seem simple, but this turns out to be deceptive: the dialogue is pungent with the ring of absurd truth. It took me a while to reconcile my feelings for this film. As soon as I decided how I felt about it, I couldn't wait to see it again. *** from ****
- moonspinner55
- Apr 11, 2001
- Permalink
Altman breaks form . . .
And Now For Something Completely Different
3 Women is a seriously strange mood study that plays like a languid nightmare. It is an abstract and unusual film, loaded with symbolism. The logic, if there is any, is dream logic. Everything is open to interpretation. There is no sense to be made of it so don't even try.
The first half of the film is slow and aimless but things get very interesting once Pinky (brilliantly acted by Sissy Spacek) hits her head. Pinky sort of becomes Millie (Shelley Duvall) and Millie sort of becomes Pinky and they both sort of become the dream of Willie (Janice Rule) or maybe they don't. Listening to director Robert Altman's commentary on the DVD is revealing. He says that he sees the film as a painting and that the audience should feel it but not understand it.
The references to Persona are obvious but while watching 3 Women I was reminded of another haunting and puzzling film- Picnic at Hanging Rock.
Mysterious and deeply Freudian, 3 Women is one truly unique work so sit back and marvel at the inexplicable.
The first half of the film is slow and aimless but things get very interesting once Pinky (brilliantly acted by Sissy Spacek) hits her head. Pinky sort of becomes Millie (Shelley Duvall) and Millie sort of becomes Pinky and they both sort of become the dream of Willie (Janice Rule) or maybe they don't. Listening to director Robert Altman's commentary on the DVD is revealing. He says that he sees the film as a painting and that the audience should feel it but not understand it.
The references to Persona are obvious but while watching 3 Women I was reminded of another haunting and puzzling film- Picnic at Hanging Rock.
Mysterious and deeply Freudian, 3 Women is one truly unique work so sit back and marvel at the inexplicable.
3 Women
I saw "3 Women" in 1977. I went back to the cinema and saw it two more times, before I wrote a review. Though I have seen it many other times since then, today I do not recall every detail. Nevertheless I remember its story dealt with three women whose solidarity allows them to survive in a world dominated by insensitive men.
Two of these women move the story, the third one does not have a direct influence on the events, but she is a key figure. There is no puzzle here, no enigma to decipher. It may be based on Robert Altman's dream, it may have a dream sequence, but it is quite linear and direct, with little relation to dreams' structure (or lack of it).
I say this today but after finding my review in my files, I think it's ironic and makes me laugh at myself. By 1977 I had not read Susan Sontag's "Against Interpretation" yet and I was trying to decipher what the butter meant in "Last Tango in Paris". But I must admit that I find interesting some of the research I did and a few interpretations I made.
I found various leitmotivs in the movie: first, the grotesquely erotic murals painted and shot at by Willie (Janice Rule), that illustrate the oppressive situation of woman in phallocratic societies; water, which (according to French philosopher Dane Rudhyar) stands for collective consciousness and astral world, a symbol that for me tacitly connected the three women (and that has played an important role in other Altman films: "McCabe & Mrs. Miller", "Streamers", "Come Back to the 5 and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean", "The Gingerbread Man", "Dr. T & the Women", frozen in "Quintet", and even in "HealtH", "Popeye" and "O. C. and Stiggs", not to mention that Altman was a Piscean, a water astrological sign.)
There was also the image of twins Peggy and Polly, duplicated in Alcira and Doris, mirroring the Millie-Pinky duplicity; and the clinic, as a metaphor of social and moral decay while its members attempt at efficiency. It may sound crazy but I even made a connection between a woman's womb (Willie's) and the pool of the boarding house (owned by Willie), where the temporary symbiosis of Pinky Rose (Sissy Spacek) into Millie Lammoreaux (Shelley Duvall) takes place.
Today I consider all these more hints than cryptic data, and sometimes they are even too obvious -as the line when Millie says something like "Sometimes Peggy can be Polly, and Polly can be Peggy", gun-crazy Edgar as a projection of male authoritarianism and sexual inadequacy, and the delivery of the dead child (Edgar's and Willie's) as a metaphor of the sterility of this kind of relationship between men and women.
As I remember it today, it is a sad story in which female bonding serves as a means of survival in a consumerist society, narrated in a beautiful cinematic style, with remarkable performances by all. It is funny that, although Duvall had won the Best Actress Palm d'Or in Cannes, the one who impressed me the most was Rule, because she was able to transmit so much with less than a dozen lines. By far, it's my favorite Robert Altman movie. One of his masterpieces and one of the best American films in the 1970s.
Two of these women move the story, the third one does not have a direct influence on the events, but she is a key figure. There is no puzzle here, no enigma to decipher. It may be based on Robert Altman's dream, it may have a dream sequence, but it is quite linear and direct, with little relation to dreams' structure (or lack of it).
I say this today but after finding my review in my files, I think it's ironic and makes me laugh at myself. By 1977 I had not read Susan Sontag's "Against Interpretation" yet and I was trying to decipher what the butter meant in "Last Tango in Paris". But I must admit that I find interesting some of the research I did and a few interpretations I made.
I found various leitmotivs in the movie: first, the grotesquely erotic murals painted and shot at by Willie (Janice Rule), that illustrate the oppressive situation of woman in phallocratic societies; water, which (according to French philosopher Dane Rudhyar) stands for collective consciousness and astral world, a symbol that for me tacitly connected the three women (and that has played an important role in other Altman films: "McCabe & Mrs. Miller", "Streamers", "Come Back to the 5 and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean", "The Gingerbread Man", "Dr. T & the Women", frozen in "Quintet", and even in "HealtH", "Popeye" and "O. C. and Stiggs", not to mention that Altman was a Piscean, a water astrological sign.)
There was also the image of twins Peggy and Polly, duplicated in Alcira and Doris, mirroring the Millie-Pinky duplicity; and the clinic, as a metaphor of social and moral decay while its members attempt at efficiency. It may sound crazy but I even made a connection between a woman's womb (Willie's) and the pool of the boarding house (owned by Willie), where the temporary symbiosis of Pinky Rose (Sissy Spacek) into Millie Lammoreaux (Shelley Duvall) takes place.
Today I consider all these more hints than cryptic data, and sometimes they are even too obvious -as the line when Millie says something like "Sometimes Peggy can be Polly, and Polly can be Peggy", gun-crazy Edgar as a projection of male authoritarianism and sexual inadequacy, and the delivery of the dead child (Edgar's and Willie's) as a metaphor of the sterility of this kind of relationship between men and women.
As I remember it today, it is a sad story in which female bonding serves as a means of survival in a consumerist society, narrated in a beautiful cinematic style, with remarkable performances by all. It is funny that, although Duvall had won the Best Actress Palm d'Or in Cannes, the one who impressed me the most was Rule, because she was able to transmit so much with less than a dozen lines. By far, it's my favorite Robert Altman movie. One of his masterpieces and one of the best American films in the 1970s.
It would have been great to keep it with the 2 women in SWF territory
Pinky Rose (Sissy Spacek) is an introverted young woman starting work at a health spa in California. She is so shy that on her first day at work, she doesn't even challenge her co-worker Millie Lammoreaux (Shelley Duvall) who mistakes her for a client. Millie needs a roommate and Pinky quickly snaps it up. However Pinky's quiet loner nature turns Millie against her. After Millie berates Pinky, Pinky takes a suicidal dive into the pool leaving her in a coma. When she wakes up, there's a change in Pinky and Millie finds strange occurrences perpetrated by Pinky.
The first half is fine with Spacek and Duvall playing to their comfort zones. I kept wondering where this movie is going with this. Then it takes a hard turn into Single White Female situation. That is a great turn but it doesn't continue as I expected. It goes into a surreal sojourn in some kind of poetic journey. It's definitely a surprise but I'm not convinced that it's a good surprise. I think a more simpler road with the two girls would be more compelling especially considering the third woman is only a minor character. Maybe there's a point in the surreal poetry that I missed.
The first half is fine with Spacek and Duvall playing to their comfort zones. I kept wondering where this movie is going with this. Then it takes a hard turn into Single White Female situation. That is a great turn but it doesn't continue as I expected. It goes into a surreal sojourn in some kind of poetic journey. It's definitely a surprise but I'm not convinced that it's a good surprise. I think a more simpler road with the two girls would be more compelling especially considering the third woman is only a minor character. Maybe there's a point in the surreal poetry that I missed.
- SnoopyStyle
- Jun 8, 2015
- Permalink
Character study meets Rod Serling
Psychological Study of Human Stability
We are all on the brink. Many of us have endearing qualities that are lacking in others and vice versa. Do we question ourselves or do we change drastically? Can we become better people or are we doomed with our very own dismal personality traits? These are the questions that the film, 3 Women, examines.
I saw this film as a 14 year old boy with no preconceptions. It made me feel like there were imposter's as well as identity thieves among us all. I even became suspicious of people who I considered to be my allies! A truly, classic piece of cinema paranoia (in the tradition of Polanski's The Tenant). Except in this case, there is no illusion. Just one ,blatant, slap in the face after another. When you watch this film, it will literally shed it's skin and reveal something that is spookily real and very threatening, without all the supernatural riff-raff and far-fetched plot. This is a film about REAL characters and REAL development. The ending can be summed up by the scene which precedes it, in which the three women are brought together by a rather tragic incident, as this breathes new "life" into their bleak, sometimes dusty environments. "One woman became two..Two became three...3 Women became One."
I saw this film as a 14 year old boy with no preconceptions. It made me feel like there were imposter's as well as identity thieves among us all. I even became suspicious of people who I considered to be my allies! A truly, classic piece of cinema paranoia (in the tradition of Polanski's The Tenant). Except in this case, there is no illusion. Just one ,blatant, slap in the face after another. When you watch this film, it will literally shed it's skin and reveal something that is spookily real and very threatening, without all the supernatural riff-raff and far-fetched plot. This is a film about REAL characters and REAL development. The ending can be summed up by the scene which precedes it, in which the three women are brought together by a rather tragic incident, as this breathes new "life" into their bleak, sometimes dusty environments. "One woman became two..Two became three...3 Women became One."
- MuzikNFilm
- Dec 8, 2004
- Permalink
Case of mistaken identity
This is exactly what the film is about. Someone who doesn't really know who they are-yet. Someone who is desperately seeking someone to pattern their life after. Who is your inspiration? Who is your idol? If you have no one and are in an area where there are few inspiring people then you pick the least threatening. And this is sort of what the story is about. Someone who is a blank slate and looking to fill in the space. Excellent film! I've watched it probably 50 times in my life. It is fascinating with low key performances by Sissy Spacek and Shelly Duval.
Watch it!!
Watch it!!
Shock of the Familiar
Mind blown. Gotta watch it again.
For the 1st half of the film I was alternately confused, underwhelmed, and distracted by my dog who seemed to be having one of those dreams like she was running from Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction. We aren't given any clear plot to grasp, other than the routine day-to-day of 2 mismatched roommates who seem to be coldly despised by everyone they meet, But then suddenly around the half way point, a sudden shocking event occurs which changes the entire tone of the film and reels us into a powerful psychological thriller. By the end of the film I was on the edge of my seat and my dog was like "dude what are you watching, looks intense."
I'm tempted to leave it at that because this film is best experienced knowing nothing about it. I'll just say that it's a perception-bending masterpiece which I don't doubt was heavily inspired by Kurosawa's "Rashomon". Director Robert Altman has talked about how he loves the way Rashomon broke cinematic boundaries by messing with our concept of visual truth. If Rashomon broke the truth, then 3 Women took the pieces and stepped on them and threw them in a blender and glued them back together in the wrong order. Then challenged us to figure it out. Plan on watching this movie twice. You'll need to.
I'm tempted to leave it at that because this film is best experienced knowing nothing about it. I'll just say that it's a perception-bending masterpiece which I don't doubt was heavily inspired by Kurosawa's "Rashomon". Director Robert Altman has talked about how he loves the way Rashomon broke cinematic boundaries by messing with our concept of visual truth. If Rashomon broke the truth, then 3 Women took the pieces and stepped on them and threw them in a blender and glued them back together in the wrong order. Then challenged us to figure it out. Plan on watching this movie twice. You'll need to.
7.7/10. Recommended
Not gonna lie, i was not even sure if i like it or not during the first 40-ish minutes. I was thinking constantly "What the hell is this?" I have watched a lot of weird and bizzarre movies but i couldn't understand if this is intentionally weird or, i don't know, a 70's cinematic curiosum in which every person involved in this took a dive in a LSD pool :)
I was intrigued though. I couldn't take my eyes off it. No way i could guess where it goes. It seemed like a drama movie but it felt like a mystery.
When the "event" happened, everything changed. I haven't watched Bergman's Persona, but i am sure that David Lynch has been influenced heavily by 3 WOMEN. Suddenly, everything was different. 70's mysticism, eerie and ominous atmosphere. And it was not like this movie took a turn and changed its identity. No. It was like the deeper essence of this movie surfaced. Like everything that happened before, foreshadowed the last 30 minutes.
I can't explain it better because English is not my native language but i am not even sure i could be more precise writing in it.
In any case, do you remember some frustrating movies where the ending is ambiguous just because the creators didn't have a clue how to end it? That's not the case here. The ending cannot be more ambiguous than it is, but still, i was not frustrated. This was not lazy writing. But the final touch in a strange work of art.
Duvall and Spacek are amazing.
I was intrigued though. I couldn't take my eyes off it. No way i could guess where it goes. It seemed like a drama movie but it felt like a mystery.
When the "event" happened, everything changed. I haven't watched Bergman's Persona, but i am sure that David Lynch has been influenced heavily by 3 WOMEN. Suddenly, everything was different. 70's mysticism, eerie and ominous atmosphere. And it was not like this movie took a turn and changed its identity. No. It was like the deeper essence of this movie surfaced. Like everything that happened before, foreshadowed the last 30 minutes.
I can't explain it better because English is not my native language but i am not even sure i could be more precise writing in it.
In any case, do you remember some frustrating movies where the ending is ambiguous just because the creators didn't have a clue how to end it? That's not the case here. The ending cannot be more ambiguous than it is, but still, i was not frustrated. This was not lazy writing. But the final touch in a strange work of art.
Duvall and Spacek are amazing.
- athanasiosze
- Sep 28, 2023
- Permalink
Schizophrenic Altman finds middle ground
- Cosmoeticadotcom
- Sep 2, 2008
- Permalink
Watch it for Spacek and Duvall, forget the rest
Revisiting Robert Altman's 3 Women a quarter-century after its release is more than an exercise in nostalgia. The movie's worst faults -- its oneiric aimlessness, its pretensions toward some sort of feminist metaphysics -- seem really not to matter that much. And its best parts -- Shelly Duvall and Sissy Spacek and the interplay between them -- have stayed fresh as new paint. Has either of these actresses ever surpassed the natural, intuitive work Altman here inspired them to produce? These two-girls-sharing cook up a relationship as messy and powerful as lovers.
Duvall, the clueless airhead who nonetheless gives herself airs, discovers an almost aching pathos when she finds Spacek slipping away from her. The ingrown, dependent Spacek seems to have been raised in a colony of sponges; when she starts reddening her lips and nails, and returning Duvall's haughty contempt, she's frightening and feral. Sharp as the comedy in 3 Women is, it bespeaks an almost insupportable sadness, so when Altman shifts into the minor mode and commences playing fortissimo, it's redundant, and a miscalculation. He's already shown us all there is to see. The rest is just obscurantist mood-spinning.
Note to film buffs: the actor playing Spacek's elderly dad is John Cromwell (also the bishop in Altman's A Wedding), the director of Dead Reckoning, Caged, and The Racket.
Duvall, the clueless airhead who nonetheless gives herself airs, discovers an almost aching pathos when she finds Spacek slipping away from her. The ingrown, dependent Spacek seems to have been raised in a colony of sponges; when she starts reddening her lips and nails, and returning Duvall's haughty contempt, she's frightening and feral. Sharp as the comedy in 3 Women is, it bespeaks an almost insupportable sadness, so when Altman shifts into the minor mode and commences playing fortissimo, it's redundant, and a miscalculation. He's already shown us all there is to see. The rest is just obscurantist mood-spinning.
Note to film buffs: the actor playing Spacek's elderly dad is John Cromwell (also the bishop in Altman's A Wedding), the director of Dead Reckoning, Caged, and The Racket.
3 WOMEN (Robert Altman, 1977) ***
- Bunuel1976
- Jul 3, 2008
- Permalink
My Interpretation of 3 Women
- brent0509-933-777627
- Oct 29, 2015
- Permalink
a film about a dream so in other words freaky!
So I watched 1977's dream flick "3 women", by the late great Robert Altman. This movie stars both Shelly Duvall and Sissy Spacek, both who won awards for their acting in this film. So is this movie good, yes if you like the surreal (which I do). Is it a classic, I say yes but of cult status only. This is not a mainstream movie. Even for Altman this movie is out there. This is not one of his typical dialog driven smart comedy. It is a flick about images, ideas, and things that are open for interpretation. Including the end which Altman himself said he was not quite sure he understood. The inspiration for this film was in fact a dream Altman had. This film starts out seemingly normal but slowly morphs into a dream, becoming stranger and stranger with each passing scene. I recommend this movie for indy lovers and art lovers. I am not sure many others would appreciate the rather intellectual high art concept of this film. Watching this movie with friends may be the best way to go, with the right group this film could inspire a deep philosophical and existential debate. if you like concise reviews of interesting films please read my other reviews at http://raouldukeatthemovies.blogspot.com/
I just don't get it. I feel like I should, but I just don't.
- chersull_99
- Jan 22, 2006
- Permalink